Poindexter
Americannoun
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Poindexters
plural
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Explanation
The word poindexter is a playful — but not the most flattering — term for someone who's highly intelligent or academically gifted but socially awkward. The word poindexter comes from the name of a nerdy cartoon character in the 1950s TV show Felix the Cat. With his thick glasses and studious demeanor, Poindexter — the genius scientist and good friend of Felix — became a symbol for the combination of high intelligence and low social skills. Today, the term is often used teasingly to describe someone who excels in academics but finds social interactions more challenging.
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:
Guest: Brian Poindexter, Democratic congressional candidate running for Ohio’s 7th district.
From Slate ● Sep. 28, 2026
Former labor organizer and iron worker Brian Poindexter embodies the emerging blue-collar, practical-minded Democrat type in the upcoming midterms.
From Slate ● Sep. 28, 2026
Poindexter, a relative unknown, has surged in the meantime.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026
The recording of that police call was never played at trial, and in one of his appeals Poindexter said his lawyers at the time never even requested a copy of it.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 8, 2023
Rev. J. E. Poindexter, Secretary I walked to the same shoeshine stand in the French Quarter that I had been visiting as a white man.
From "Black Like Me" by John Howard Griffin
Now, studious and stressed-out college students wouldn’t normally draw my ire, except these Poindexters reveled in their misery.
From Time ● Jan. 27, 2015
You'd think these pocket-protected Poindexters would have been busy enough with the 918 Spyder, one of the fastest and most complicated hybrid supercars in the world.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 29, 2014
She wants to know if her friends the Poindexters gave you two a gift as expensive as the one she gave to their kid.
From Slate ● Mar. 25, 2013
Eager to please, President Leguia ordered Senor Gonzalez-Prada to return Cornelius to the Poindexters.
From Time Magazine Archive
The Poindexters had been much impoverished by the excesses of David's father and grandfather, and David seems to have had few or no resources beyond the very modest stipend appertaining to his position.
From David Poindexter's Disappearance, and Other Tales by Julian Hawthorne
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
