dullard
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of dullard
late Middle English word dating back to 1400–50; see origin at dull, -ard
Explanation
If something isn’t sharp, it’s dull. This can apply to pencils and people — if you’re sharp, you’re a smarty-pants, but if you’re dull, you’re a dullard. It even sounds kind of dumb, dullard. Dullard is an old-fashioned word for a dumb person. If you have to explain to someone how to sit in a chair, you’re probably talking to a dullard (or a toddler). It's rude to call someone a dullard, but we all feel like dullards sometimes, especially when we make mistakes or can't understand something.
Vocabulary lists containing dullard
"Between the World and Me" by Ta-Nehisi Coates
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The Serpent King
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A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
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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.
It's a world, for the most part, beyond the grasp of dullard officials.
From BBC • Jun. 2, 2023
They're not all that eager to jump to his defense: Most of them know he's a toxic, narcissistic dullard.
From Salon • Mar. 27, 2023
Burwell focused on Farrell’s character, Pádraic, a farmer characterized by his friend as a dullard.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 17, 2022
Neanderthals were, she writes, “not dullard losers on a withered branch of the family tree, but enormously adaptable and even successful ancient relatives”.
From Nature • Aug. 17, 2020
"Her Grace does not wish to be disturbed," Ser Mandon repeated slowly, as if Tyrion were a dullard who had not heard him the first time.
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
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.
