half-wit

[ half-wit, hahf- ]

/ ˈhælfˌwɪt, ˈhɑf- /

a person who is feeble-minded.

a person who is foolish or senseless; dunderhead.

Nearby words

First recorded in 1670–80

SYNONYMS FOR half-wit

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

Naomi Watts plays Diana as a sweet-natured, wistful, half-wit.
Princess Diana Was the Girlfriend From Hell. Why Is This Movie So Boring?|Tina Brown|November 4, 2013|DAILY BEAST
For the instant he partially suspected mischief and wheeled about, but one look at the half-wit dissipated all doubt.
Sunlight Patch|Credo Fitch Harris
"For the family," was Cleena's watchword, and it had already become the half-wit's.
Reels and Spindles|Evelyn Raymond
For even if one calls him a half-wit, it still makes a difference that he keeps the right half of his wits.
Appreciations and Criticisms of the Works of Charles Dickens|G. K. Chesterton

There he began to think less about the half-wit, with his livid face and mouth like a fish.
The Innocence of Father Brown|G. K. Chesterton
All the fairy tales of her beloved Ireland rushed through her mind, and she regarded the half-wit with a new veneration.
Reels and Spindles|Evelyn Raymond

Word Origin and History for half-wit

1670s, originally "a would-be wit whose abilities are mediocre;" sense of "simpleton" (one lacking all his wits) is first attested 1755.

Half-wits are fleas; so little and so light,
We scarce could know they live, but that they bite.
[Dryden, "All for Love"]

Phrase out of half wit "half out of one's mind" was in Middle English (late 14c.). Half-witted "lacking common sense" is from 1640s.