dimwit
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of dimwit
Explanation
A dimwit is a person who's not very smart. If you catch your friend sending a text message while he's driving, you can yell at him to put his phone down and call him a dimwit. No one wants to be called a dimwit, since it implies incompetence and a low IQ — it's important to use this word carefully to avoid offending someone. Still, when your brother leaves a pizza unattended in a room with his two big dogs, you'll probably have to say, "Well of course they ate it, you dimwit." The word was coined in the US, as 1920s college slang.
Vocabulary lists containing dimwit
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.
She had a Twitter tiff with Donald Trump Jr. last September; after he made an online comment about Navarro’s weight, she called him a dimwit.
From Seattle Times • Aug. 4, 2022
“Amadeus” serves Joseph no better than it does Salieri, portraying the ruler as a dithering dimwit.
From The New Yorker • May 27, 2019
He can do anything, play anybody: a dimwit New York bartender, a Russian copper, a cruel, atavistic London gangster.
From The Guardian • Jun. 8, 2017
Woodrow Wilson, the erudite president of Princeton with a doctorate in political science, was followed into office by Warren Harding, who was just smart enough to know he was a dimwit.
From Washington Post • Apr. 18, 2017
“Yes. In the cave,” Alexander said, kindly and a bit slowly, as if talking to a dimwit.
From "The Unseen Guest" by Maryrose Wood
Definitions 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.
