deaf-and-dumb

American  

[def-uhn-duhm] / ˈdɛf ənˈdʌm /

adjective

Offensive.

1. deaf-mute.

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deaf-and-dumb British  

adjective

1. unable to hear or speak

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noun

1. a deaf person without speech

Sensitive Note

See dumb.

Usage

Using deaf-and-dumb to refer to people without speech is considered outdated and offensive, and should be avoided. The phrase profoundly deaf is a suitable alternative in many contexts

Etymology

Origin of deaf-and-dumb

1150–1200; Middle English def and doumb

Example Sentences

An entire park of artillery was encamped with lighted matches around the July Column, that enormous deaf-and-dumb memento of the Bastille.

From The History of a Crime The Testimony of an Eye-Witness by Hugo, Victor

We get one man devoting himself exclusively to a blind asylum, another seeming to take no interest in anything but a deaf-and-dumb institute or the like, and yet another devoting himself to charity organisation.

From Civics: as Applied Sociology by Geddes, Patrick

In civil life this officer, a colonel of volunteers, had been an aurist of some note and the physician in attendance in a deaf-and-dumb asylum.

From The Storm Centre by Murfree, Mary Noailles

"I think I ought to tell you, young ladies," he said nervously, "that I am very well acquainted with the deaf-and-dumb alphabet, having taught the subject for several years at an institution for deaf-mutes."

From The Third Class at Miss Kaye's A School Story by Brazil, Angela

Pierre et Camille, with its deaf-and-dumb lovers, and their baby, who babbles in the presence of the relenting grandfather "Bonjour, papa," has a pretty innocence.

From A History of French Literature Short Histories of the Literatures of the World: II. by Gosse, Edmund