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

“I’ve changed a lot as a filmmaker, but I’m still the same idiot I’ve always been,” says Oscar-winning director Alejandro G. Iñárritu.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026

Who among us would not exchange his mental state for that of a whistling idiot?

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 6, 2026

Yeah, everyone kind of thinks Mr. Collins is an idiot, but she’s looking deeper than that and being like, ‘Maybe he needs a bit of understanding.'”

From Salon ● Jun. 25, 2026

The judge, Mr Justice Garnham, described Lavrynovych as a "useful idiot" who could be easily manipulated.

From BBC ● Jun. 19, 2026

“Stop gaping like an idiot and look alive,” she whispered as Callaway excitedly motioned a small group of kids over from where they’d been sitting around a table eating breakfast.

From "Glitch" by Laura Martin

"We are big idiots really, but there isn't enough opportunity for us to be around each other and show that in a safe space where we can really let our hair down," he added.

From BBC ● Apr. 3, 2026

In a post on TikTok, Ella called fraternity members who made that bet idiots and said they deserved to lose money.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 6, 2026

Sortor later complained that he was detained, saying “these idiots called the police on me, saying I had a gun and was ‘running innocent protestors over.’”

From Salon ● Jan. 14, 2026

On Friday he took to social media to criticize “the usual idiots misinterpreting a Post article on Mets payroll.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 22, 2025

“He left a week ago. Like idiots we told him to mail us the key. The landlady is in Florida. We’ve been in the country at Francis’s the whole time.”

From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt

Related Words

• fool
• moron
• nitwit
• twit