dim bulb

British

noun

informal a slow-witted unintelligent person

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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.

Despite its proximity, it’s a dim bulb that is so faint that it demands a decent telescope to be seen at all.

From Scientific American • Oct. 6, 2023

So it is understandable that Rivera in particular would embrace the glow that comes with a win that, upon further examination, might be a dim bulb.

From Washington Times • Sep. 11, 2022

Chris Smith may be a dim bulb, but he’s trying to cross Peacemaker over into the light to burn brighter.

From Salon • Feb. 17, 2022

Week 1221, the child of any two people: — The child of Thomas Edison and Jenny McCarthy would go on to invent the electric dim bulb.

From Washington Post • Jan. 4, 2018

Finally they reached a little wooden shack like the one they’d stopped at earlier, where a dim bulb glowed on a bare wire over the door.

From "The Amber Spyglass" by Philip Pullman

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023