idiot

American  

[id-ee-uht] / ˈɪd i ət /

noun

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

• idiotic adjective

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

Example Sentences

I force them to stay their normal size so he doesn’t change his mind because I look like a starstruck idiot.

From Literature

Oh my God, I wish we put that much thought into it but no, we’re idiots.

From Los Angeles Times

I had been an idiot to go up to his office.

From Literature

I wondered whether I had been an idiot, confusing sophistication for secretiveness, but then again Luc hadn’t said anything was certain.

From Literature

On the related but perhaps irrelevant question of individual character, the evidence is clear: Wilhelm II was an unstable and vainglorious idiot who wound up in the wrong place at the wrong time.

From Salon

Related Words

• fool
• moron
• nitwit
• twit