knucklehead
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
- knuckleheaded adjective
Etymology
Origin of knucklehead
Explanation
A knucklehead is someone who is a dunce or does something foolish. You might criticize your friend's baking skills by saying, "You used salt instead of sugar, you knucklehead!" Knucklehead is an informal term that can come across as joking rather than insulting, depending how you use it. A pair of brothers might call each other knuckleheads in a fond way: "Hang on, I'm coming with you on your bike ride, you knucklehead!" The word is uniquely American, coined in the late nineteenth century, but made popular in the 1940s by an Army recruitment character known as "R. F. Knucklehead."
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.
“I’m a knucklehead sometimes,” he said as he stumbled to explain his claim to being in Hong Kong during the Tiananmen Square massacre.
From Salon • Oct. 3, 2024
"I'm a knucklehead at times," Walz said when asked about it during the debate.
From BBC • Oct. 1, 2024
“If Twitter becomes the go-to platform for the knucklehead brigade, advertisers will run, not walk.”
From New York Times • Oct. 28, 2022
Devin Allen admits that he occasionally behaved like a knucklehead, growing up in Baltimore.
From Seattle Times • Oct. 28, 2022
Y'know, my uncle just be looking out for Skunk's knucklehead self.
From "Patina" by Jason Reynolds
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.
