ultracrepidarian
/ˌəltrəkrepəˈderēən
/adjective
Expressing opinions on matters outside the scope of one’s knowledge or expertise: “Dad, how do we know the universe is expanding?” inquires your six-year-old. Try answering that without resorting to an ultracrepidarian trick here or there...
- He's an ultracrepidarian person, an ignorant presumptuous critic.
- The authors could be accused of displaying ultracrepidarian tendencies themselves, after eschewing the strictly economic analyses of their earlier bestsellers.
- Even the more trustworthy doctor strays into ultracrepidarian territory rather frequently.
noun
A person who expresses opinions on matters outside the scope of their knowledge or expertise: most patients are ultracrepidarians when it comes to medicine...
- The lingering feeling that I was being preached at by this ultracrepidarian will not fade so quickly.
- The place was full of characters—mostly ultracrepidarians on the other side of the glass, smelling like a dead goat.
- He found Mark to be like a majority of fans—ultracrepidarians who didn't know jack about baseball, but talked as if they did.
Origin
Early 19th century: from Latin ultra 'beyond' and crepida 'shoe, sandal', with allusion to the remark ne supra crepidam sutor iudicaret 'the cobbler should not judge beyond his shoe', attributed to the painter Apelles of Kos in response to criticism from a shoemaker in Pliny the Elder's Natural History (ad 77).