idiot

[ id-ee-uht ]

See synonyms for idiot on Thesaurus.com

noun

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!
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.

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

Other words for idiot

1	fool, half-wit; imbecile; dolt, dunce, numbskull

See synonyms for idiot on Thesaurus.com

Other words from idiot

id·i·ot·ic [id-ee-ot-ik], /ˌɪd iˈɒt ɪk/, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use idiot in a sentence

She Said: The latest addition to the “Men are Idiots” TV anthology features men raising babies.
TV Preview: Snap Judgments of 2012-13’s New Shows | Jace Lacob, Maria Elena Fernandez | June 12, 2012 | THE DAILY BEAST
Idiots blush seldom, blind people and hereditary albinos, a great deal.
Criminal Psychology | Hans Gross
Idiots and imbeciles have largely disappeared from country villages and small towns.
London's Underworld | Thomas Holmes
Idiots who went so far as to claim the whole city would be destroyed, just to make people do as they said.
Deadly City | Paul W. Fairman
Idiots, you will say, my dear sir or madame, to pick up this quarrel on such foolish grounds!
Mated from the Morgue | John Augustus O'Shea

Idiots, whose minds are without action, dream like other men; therefore dreams are produced independent of the mind.
Buffon's Natural History. Volume V (of 10) | Georges Louis Leclerc de Buffon

British Dictionary definitions for idiot

idiot

/ (ˈɪdɪət) /

noun

a person with severe mental retardation
a foolish or senseless person

Origin of idiot

C13: from Latin idiōta ignorant person, from Greek idiōtēs private person, one who lacks professional knowledge, ignoramus; see idio-

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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