knucklehead
Americannoun
-
knuckleheads
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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.
See Examples For:
He has previously branded Powell a "knucklehead" and claimed he was "doing a lousy job" after his repeated calls for interest rate cuts were ignored.
From BBC ● Apr. 15, 2026
“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
It looks as though we are going to suffer more knucklehead managerial decisions again this season.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 14, 2023
“If Twitter becomes the go-to platform for the knucklehead brigade, advertisers will run, not walk.”
From New York Times ● Oct. 28, 2022
A lovable knucklehead, but a knucklehead all the same.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
The knuckleheads causing civic havoc should be sentenced to root for the Brooklyn Nets.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 14, 2026
They espouse pithy jokes and playful warnings, like, “To all you knuckleheads, do not talk to me while I’m cooking,” and, “Your portion depends on your attitude, I mean it!”
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 7, 2023
A lot of passionate, maniacal and deeply invested knuckleheads, yes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 27, 2023
When some within government are describing others within government to me as "knuckleheads", you can be confident there's lively debate internally about how to manage this.
From BBC ● May 16, 2022
We watch them go, hear Cousin Dorothy say, Don't you knuckleheads get into trouble out there.
From "Brown Girl Dreaming" by Jacqueline Woodson
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.
