dunce
Americannoun
-
dunces
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of dunce
1520–30; after John Duns Scotus, whose writings were attacked by the humanists as foolish
Explanation
A dunce is a dummy — someone who isn't smart. You might be tempted to call your little brother a dunce when he walks out the door with his shoes on the wrong feet. It's not nice to call someone a dunce, though you might call yourself one when you study the wrong chapter before a big history test or get pulled over for yet another speeding ticket. The word dunce comes from a thirteenth century Scottish philosopher, John Duns Scotus, whose resistance to new ideas and mystical beliefs inspired opponents to equate his followers, the "Duns disciples," to "dullards." Later, some teachers made children wear pointed paper "dunce caps" when they misbehaved.
Vocabulary lists containing dunce
"Marriage is a Private Affair" by Chinua Achebe
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Eleven
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
If you do think that he could, please step forward and claim your complimentary dunce cap, and infuse it with your own naivete.
From Salon ● May 5, 2023
But dunce caps aside, the irony is that Xi’s critique of Big Tech is similar to recent debates in the United States.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 9, 2021
Come December, the predictor will either be wearing a dunce cap or a genius cap.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 2, 2021
In my view, the biggest mistake scientists make is to claim that this is all somehow simple and therefore to imply that anyone who doesn't get it is a dunce.
From Scientific American ● Jul. 8, 2021
He got to spend the day with Pa watching rabbits and I had to sit in a room of kids who hated me, looking like the dunce that I am.
From "Worth" by A. LaFaye
You there, yes you, the one sitting in seat 11E; you’re no better than the doomed dunces coming to see this production of “Fossil Fools.”
From Salon ● Oct. 5, 2026
People who say L.A. has no seasons are unobservant dunces.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2021
The internet abets the problem, he says: Unfiltered by editors, it levels the playing field between experts and "dunces."
From Science Magazine ● Jan. 2, 2020
The appeal of getting to play one of Sandler’s dunces was so great that it attracted former cast members Jimmy Fallon and Kristen Wiig, neither of whose time on the show overlapped with Sandler’s:
From Slate ● May 5, 2019
“Okay, then, us two dunces are going to find a way out of this place.”
From "Ruby Holler" by Sharon Creech
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
