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dunce cap

American

Or dunce's cap

noun

a tall, cone-shaped hat formerly worn by slow or lazy students as a punishment in school.

dunce cap British

noun

a conical paper hat, formerly placed on the head of a dull child at school

"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

Etymology

Origin of dunce cap

First recorded in 1830–40

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:

dunce cap

It’s about as academically relevant to today’s students as Sadie Hawkins Day, and as necessary as a dunce cap.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 11, 2024

If you do think that he could, please step forward and claim your complimentary dunce cap, and infuse it with your own naivete.

From Salon ● May 5, 2023

Abraham Lincoln imprisoned editors during the Civil War, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt admonished a journalist to go to the corner and wear a dunce cap.

From Washington Times ● Dec. 3, 2020

It kind of went out with the dunce cap.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 29, 2019

The high hairdo towered over her thin face like dunce cap, the white-blond hair utterly incongruous with her olive skin.

From "Uglies" by Scott Westerfeld

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