jackass

American  

[jak-as] / ˈdʒækˌæs /

noun

1. a male donkey.

2. a contemptibly foolish or stupid person; dolt; blockhead; ass.

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jackass British  

/ ˈdʒækˌæs /

noun

1. a male donkey

2. a stupid person; fool

3. another name for kookaburra

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Other Word Forms

• jackassery noun

Etymology

Origin of jackass

First recorded in 1720–30; jack ¹ + ass ¹

Example Sentences

An actor playing a heightened, jackass version of himself and flexing improv muscles we never knew he had?

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 7, 2023

"Any jackass can kick over a lantern and burn down a bar. It takes a carpenter to build one - we want to be on the side of the carpenter," Roemer told Reuters.

From Reuters • Nov. 9, 2022

Mr. Fieri proceeded to make something he calls the jackass roll — rice, pork butt, fries and avocado — so named, he said, because a friend told him he looked like a jackass preparing it.

From New York Times • May 23, 2022

As early as 2009, no less a master of rap beef than Barack Obama called West a jackass, a verdict the 44th president reconfirmed to The Atlantic in 2012.

From Slate • Aug. 30, 2021

“It’ll be Daniel in the Lion’s den, or David and the Giant, or when Samson took that jackass bone and killed all those people. It’ll be one of those three. It always is.”

From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls