idiot

American  

[id-ee-uht] / ˈɪd i ət /

noun

1. Informal. an utterly foolish or senseless person.

   If you think you can wear that outfit to a job interview and get hired, you're an idiot!

   Synonyms:

   numbskull, dunce, dolt, imbecile, half-wit, fool

2. Psychology. (no longer in technical use; considered offensive) a person of the lowest order in a former and discarded classification of intellectual disability, having a mental age of less than three years old and an intelligence quotient under 25.

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idiot British  

/ ˈɪdɪət /

noun

1. a person with severe mental retardation

2. a foolish or senseless person

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Other Word Forms

• idiotic adjective

Etymology

Origin of idiot

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English, from Latin idiōta, from Greek idiṓtēs “private person, layman, person lacking skill or expertise,” equivalent to idiō- (lengthened variant of idio- idio-, perhaps by analogy with stratiōtēs “professional soldier,” derivative of stratiá “army”) + -tēs agent noun suffix

Example Sentences

On Friday he took to social media to criticize “the usual idiots misinterpreting a Post article on Mets payroll.”

From Los Angeles Times

“But do you know what these idiots did?” she laughs.

From Salon

Now, most anyone who helped themselves to an extra Thanksgiving serving of Big Tech probably feels like a useful idiot.

From Barron's

He wants to cheat off my paper and I’M the idiot?

From Literature

My parents called television the “idiot box,” a term coined in the mid-1950s.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• fool
• moron
• nitwit
• twit