idiotic
Americanadjective
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of, relating to, or characteristic of an idiot.
-
senselessly foolish or stupid.
an idiotic remark.
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of idiotic
1705–15; < Late Latin idiōticus < Greek idiōtikós private, ignorant. See idiot, -ic
Explanation
Something that's idiotic is very, very stupid. It would be idiotic to turn down your lottery winnings because you're too lazy to go claim them. An idiotic song is boring, repetitive and has ridiculous lyrics, and an idiotic TV show is badly written and terribly acted. Your dad might describe his dog as idiotic if she manages to find a skunk every single time she goes outdoors. The adjective idiotic is informal, and it comes from the Latin idioticus, "uneducated or ignorant," with the Greek root idiotikos, "unprofessional or unskilled."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"In the UK anybody, literally anybody, is free to stand in an election, no matter how idiotic the get-up", he told AFP ahead of the 2024 London mayoral elections.
From Barron's ● Aug. 12, 2026
But the parade of horribles recounted by Mr. Shapiro are at once comic and terrifying: deans harassing speakers, law students defaming anyone holding divergent views, faculty obsessed with idiotic academic theories.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 12, 2025
None of that means, mind you, that this alternately idiotic and delusional document — described in that Economist editorial, using an enjoyable Anglo-idiom, as “a dog’s breakfast” — is not dangerous.
From Salon ● Dec. 7, 2025
Whenever his team loses, whoever it is, it seems to be greeted with more glee than when most other managers lose, which is such an idiotic view.
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2025
The guns, the quietude, the serenity of those old geezers, and the idiotic TV program, the enthralled children without a care in the world—it had upset him, he couldn’t get his bearings straight.
From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
