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.

---

idiot British  

/ ˈɪdɪət /

noun

1. a person with severe mental retardation

2. a foolish or senseless person

---

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

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

So, if you want to get the person to engage, you shouldn’t insult them, communicate that you think they’re an idiot or start yelling.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 24, 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

She stood there, hunched, shivering, expecting him to scold her for running around in the cold like an idiot.

From Anya and the Nightingale by Sofiya Pasternack

"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

I’m like, “Because we were idiots and didn’t think about it until now.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 17, 2026

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

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 13, 2026

When useful idiots play along, the hypocrisy is double: Perpetrators pretend to be humane, and apologists pretend to believe them.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 9, 2026

“Please, Christopher, don’t tell me you’d believe a fortune teller over me! They make their money from stupid little lies, and from idiots who believe them. Thankfully, griffins are immune.”

From "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell

Related Words

• fool
• moron
• nitwit
• twit