numbskull

[nuhm-skuhl]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR numbskull ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

numskull.

numskull

or numb·skull

[nuhm-skuhl]

noun

a dull-witted or stupid person; dolt.

Origin of numskull

First recorded in 1710–20; num(b) + skull

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for numbskull

idiot, dummy, slow, dim, simple, imbecile, pinhead, stupid, touched, dumbbell, dull, subnormal, yo-yo, dumdum, fool, donkey, dunce, jerk, twit, blockhead

Examples from the Web for numbskull

Historical Examples of numbskull

I broke my hip when we lived in Steelville, and the doctor was a numbskull.
A Far Country, Complete
Winston Churchill
“What a numbskull I was to throw it there and not tell anyone about it,” he thought to himself.
The Firebug
Roy J. Snell
Half awake again, I had a cursing spree, calling myself fifty kinds of a numbskull.
Stamped Caution
Raymond Zinke Gallun
E 'as more happetite than gumption, and swallers anythink that comes 'andy, like the jolt-'ed or numbskull that 'e is. '
Bass, Pike, Perch, and Others
James Alexander Henshall
You 've put over your fake; you 've had your laugh; you 've framed it so I 'll be the butt of every numbskull in Ohadi.
The Cross-Cut
Courtney Ryley Cooper

British Dictionary definitions for numbskull

numbskull

numskull

noun

a stupid person; dolt; blockhead

Word Origin for numbskull

C18: from numb + skull

numskull

noun

a variant spelling of numbskull

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

Word Origin and History for numbskull

1717, numskull, from num, old spelling of numb (adj.) + skull. Numskulled (adj.) is attested from 1706.