dunce

[ duhns ]

/ dʌns /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR dunce ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a dull-witted, stupid, or ignorant person; dolt.

Nearby words

Origin of dunce

1520–30; after John Duns Scotus, whose writings were attacked by the humanists as foolish

SYNONYMS FOR dunce

dullard, numbskull, blockhead, ignoramus, simpleton, nincompoop, ninny.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR dunce ON THESAURUS.COM

Related formsdun·ci·cal, dunc·ish, adjectivedunc·ish·ly, adverb

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for dunce

But such branding ostracizes that behavior, like the film should be forced to wear a dunce cap and publicly shamed in the corner.
Guardians of the Galaxy’s Chris Pratt Is the Everydude Superhero|Kevin Fallon|August 1, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The penalty for a miss is the same as in the sprint (Dunce Lap).
Why the Biathlon Makes Bonds of Us All|Brett Singer|February 16, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Like the pursuit, there are four stops for shooting, but in lieu of a Dunce Lap each miss adds a full minute to your total time.
Why the Biathlon Makes Bonds of Us All|Brett Singer|February 16, 2014|DAILY BEAST
If you miss you have to hit the 150m penalty loop, or as I like to call it, the Dunce Lap.
Why the Biathlon Makes Bonds of Us All|Brett Singer|February 16, 2014|DAILY BEAST

There are two shooting stops, one prone, one standing, Dunce Lap penalty for misses.
Why the Biathlon Makes Bonds of Us All|Brett Singer|February 16, 2014|DAILY BEAST
I think the most perthetic pictur in the hole lot is the one called "the Dunce."
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 93, July 16, 1887|Various
The boy above Newton having kicked him, the dunce showed his pluck by challenging him to a fight, and beat him.
Self-Help|Samuel Smiles
The Queen was not at chapel to-day, and all for the better, for we had a dunce to preach: she has a little of the gout.
The Journal to Stella|Jonathan Swift
He was long described by his Spartan mother, who thought him a dunce, as only ‘food for powder.’
Self-Help|Samuel Smiles
Your dunce who can't do his sums always has a taste for the infinite.
Felix Holt, The Radical|George Eliot

British Dictionary definitions for dunce

dunce

/ (dʌns) /

noun

a person who is stupid or slow to learn

Derived Formsduncelike, adjective

Word Origin for dunce

C16: from Dunses or Dunsmen, term of ridicule applied to the followers of John Duns Scotus, especially by 16th-century humanists

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

Word Origin and History for dunce

dunce

"dullard," 1570s, from earlier Duns disciple "follower of John Duns Scotus" (c.1265-1308), Scottish scholar of philosophy and theology supposed to have been born at Duns in Berwickshire. By 16c., humanist reaction against medieval theology singled him out as the type of the hairsplitting scholastic. It became a general term of reproach applied to more conservative philosophical opponents by 1520s, later extended to any dull-witted student.