idiot
[id-ee-uh t]
- Informal. an utterly foolish or senseless person: If you think you can wear that outfit to a job interview and get hired, you're an idiot!
- Psychology. (no longer in technical use; considered offensive) a person of the lowest order in a former and discarded classification of mental retardation, having a mental age of less than three years old and an intelligence quotient under 25.
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Origin of idiot
1250–1300; Middle English < Latin idiōta < Greek idiṓtēs private person, layman, person lacking skill or expertise, equivalent to idiō- (lengthened variant of idio- idio-, perhaps by analogy with stratiōtēs professional soldier, derivative of stratiá army) + -tēs agent noun suffix
Synonyms
See more synonyms for idiot on Thesaurus.com1. fool, half-wit; imbecile; dolt, dunce, numskull.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for idiot
Contemporary Examples
Over the next few months Davy Rothbart will be touring around America to promote his new book, My Heart Is an Idiot.
My Heart Is an Idiot: Essays By Davy Rothbart A young essayist is often a victim of his own open heart.
In honor of ‘Our Idiot Brother,’ opening Friday, watch 11 dumbest movie brothers, from Fredo to Bart Simpson.
(“Ooh, she looks so cute,” whispered one upon sighting Zooey Deschanel, who also stars in My Idiot Brother).
Idiot Americaby Charles P. Pierce Saddle-wearing dinosaurs sparked this extended rant on the current state of affairs.
Historical Examples
Yet in reviewing it you speak of it as the work of the Idiot of the Century.
The Devil's DictionaryAmbrose Bierce
One pool, a backset, was known as the Idiot's Delight, because any one could catch fish there.
The ForestStewart Edward White
Idiot though she might be, surely Mr. Wilcox was more—how should one put it?
Howards EndE. M. Forster
Idiot was one of the terms, the mildest, which I should have applied to that young man.
The Rise of Roscoe PaineJoseph C. Lincoln
Idiot that he is, he must know that this situation can last but a short time.
Up the Forked RiverEdward Sylvester Ellis
idiot
- a person with severe mental retardation
- a foolish or senseless person
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Word Origin
C13: from Latin idiōta ignorant person, from Greek idiōtēs private person, one who lacks professional knowledge, ignoramus; see idio-
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for idiot
n.
early 14c., "person so mentally deficient as to be incapable of ordinary reasoning;" also in Middle English "simple man, uneducated person, layman" (late 14c.), from Old French idiote "uneducated or ignorant person" (12c.), from Latin idiota "ordinary person, layman; outsider," in Late Latin "uneducated or ignorant person," from Greek idiotes "layman, person lacking professional skill" (opposed to writer, soldier, skilled workman), literally "private person (as opposed to one taking part in public affairs)," used patronizingly for "ignorant person," from idios "one's own" (see idiom).
Reader, suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself. [Mark Twain, c.1882]
Idiot box "television set" is from 1959; idiot light "dashboard warning signal" is attested from 1968. Idiot savant attested by 1870.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
idiot
(ĭd′ē-ət)- A person of profound mental retardation having a mental age below three years and generally being unable to learn connected speech or guard against common dangers. The term belongs to a classification system no longer in use and is now considered offensive.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.