oaf
- a clumsy, stupid person; lout.
- a simpleton; dunce; blockhead.
- Archaic.
- a deformed or mentally deficient child.
- a changeling.
Origin of oaf
Synonyms for oaf
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.comSynonym study
Related Words for oafish
bungling, dumb, gawky, graceless, half-witted, heavy-handed, idiotic, ignorant, inelegant, inept, lumbering, lumpish, moronic, simple, simpleminded, slow, uncoordinated, ungainly, unintelligent, bumblingExamples from the Web for oafish
Contemporary Examples of oafish
The political mutterings of oafish celebrities are best ignored.
It was an appropriate response: violent oafs should be fired from their university jobs for violent, oafish behavior.
Historical Examples of oafish
Didn't he have enough self-control just to ignore Symes and his oafish insults?
Pagan PassionsGordon Randall Garrett
He was blaming himself bitterly now for his oafish clumsiness in blurting out the news so abruptly.
The Adventures of SallyP. G. Wodehouse
He looked like an oafish clod, even viewed objectively, and Forrester was making no efforts in that direction.
Pagan PassionsGordon Randall Garrett
oaf
- a stupid or loutish person
Word Origin for oaf
Word Origin and History for oafish
oaf
1620s, auf, oph (modern form from 1630s), "a changeling; a foolish child left by the fairies" [Johnson], from a Scandinavian source, cf. Norwegian alfr "silly person," in Old Norse, "elf" (see elf). Hence, "a misbegotten, deformed idiot." Until recently, some dictionaries still gave the plural as oaves.