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 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

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

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 6, 2026

"I gave $38 million essentially for nothing, which they used to build a company worth $800 billion. I was literally an idiot," he said, blaming his own naivety.

From Barron's ● May 18, 2026

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 ● Mar. 15, 2026

It makes me wonder if I’m being an idiot for hiding out in California when I have a job waiting for me back home.

From "Starfish" by Akemi Dawn Bowman

“We all feel like idiots for not trying to buy it at $135,” he said, referring to the stock’s initial listing price.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 16, 2026

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

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 17, 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

"They are not idiots - they know that social media will film and amplify these videos for them and and they have made sure the response looks national."

From BBC ● Feb. 23, 2026

“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