doofus
Americannoun
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doofuses
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of doofus
An Americanism daing back to 1960–65; probably alteration of earlier goofus in same sense
Explanation
A doofus is a dummy or a simpleton — in other words, a goofy person who's not very smart. You might decide not to buy a top hat and suspenders after trying them on, looking in a mirror, and realizing you look like a doofus. Use the informal doofus when someone acts with stupidity or does something ridiculous and unthinking. If your brother angrily accuses you of stealing his favorite sunglasses, you can say, "You mean the ones on your head, doofus?" The word was originally 1960s US student slang, and it's thought to be modeled after goofus, an older term with a similar meaning, or to stem from the Scots doof, or "dolt."
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:
In the messages, Lively referred to Baldoni as "this doofus director of my movie" and described him as "a clown" who "thinks he's a writer now".
From BBC ● Jan. 21, 2026
On UPN’s “Malcolm & Eddie,” which premiered in 1996, he’s the straight man to Eddie Griffin’s frenetic doofus.
From Salon ● Jul. 23, 2025
He was the doofus who extolled Americans who were “working hard to put food on your family” and asked “Is your children learning?” and then dared to insist he’d been “misunderestimated.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 29, 2022
And Gordon Sondland — who courted and championed Volodymyr Zelensky long before the Ukrainian leader became a wartime legend — thinks that he looks, in retrospect, not at all like a doofus.
From Washington Post ● May 6, 2022
But then like some doofus who don’t know when to stop, I let that thought go on, don’t I?
From "The Knife of Never Letting Go" by Patrick Ness
Those doofuses on YouTube, spinning out in their jumped-up Ford Mustangs?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2025
By now in life, any people happening upon that tape without recognizing they would want that guy on their team would have to count as doofuses.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 30, 2022
At the same time, Rhaenyra was dodging marriage proposals from strategically useful doofuses.
From New York Times ● Sep. 4, 2022
“Just two doofuses from Daly City,” said Robinson, 86, the former USC and Rams coach wistfully repeating a phrase the two pals used often over the course of their nearly 80-year friendship.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 31, 2021
There’s more than one of these doofuses, right?
From Slate ● Jan. 2, 2018
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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.
