idiot

American  

[id-ee-uht] / ˈɪd i ət /

noun

• idiots
  plural

1. 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!

   Synonyms:

   numbskull, dunce, dolt, imbecile, half-wit, fool

2. Psychology. (no longer in technical use; considered offensive) a person of the lowest order in a former and discarded classification of intellectual disability, having a mental age of less than three years old and an intelligence quotient under 25.

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idiot British  

/ ˈɪdɪət /

noun

1. a person with severe mental retardation

2. a foolish or senseless person

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• idiotic
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• idiots
  plural

Etymology

Origin of idiot

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English, from Latin idiōta, from 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

Explanation

An idiot is someone who does foolish things. If you take your little brother's dinosaur lunchbox to school instead of your own brown-bag lunch, you might feel like an idiot. But don't be too hard on yourself — we all make mistakes. The word idiot originated in the 1300s, from the Old French word idiote, which meant "person so mentally deficient as to be incapable of ordinary reasoning." Today, though, idiot describes anyone who does foolish things, especially things that inconvenience others. If you put the Thanksgiving turkey in the oven but forget to turn it on, in four hours, you'll have a cold turkey and a bunch of relatives calling you an idiot.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

idiot idiots

No one—no reporter, operative, commentator, analyst, or person on the street—wants to look like an idiot by overhyping it again.

From Slate ● Sep. 21, 2026

"As the players themselves say, he's an idiot, but he's our idiot," said Saunders.

From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2026

"This isn't me and worse, this cheap imitation is a soulless idiot."

From Barron's ● Sep. 14, 2026

“I would be an idiot not to walk away from her and let her flourish in her career,” he continued.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026

He wants to cheat off my paper and I’M the idiot?

From "Popcorn" by Rob Harrell

But Hull will go into this thinking if they can go back-to-back then what a start that is because they've been written off by idiots like myself.

From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2026

"I can't believe he's working in schools but to be honest he probably just wanted to get away from us idiots," he laughs.

From BBC ● Jul. 5, 2026

This space has been littered with criticism of Kobe Bryant and LeBron James and other local legends who occasionally acted like idiots.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 7, 2026

It has succeeded in making Epstein’s accusers and denouncers also look like corrupt idiots.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 13, 2026

Hoppy doesn’t call us idiots and if you ask a question he doesn’t go into a rage.

From "Angela's Ashes: A Memoir" by Frank McCourt

Related Words

• fool
• moron
• nitwit
• twit