simpleton
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of simpleton
Explanation
A simpleton is an idiot — a person without much common sense or intelligence. This is one of many words — such as moron, dummy, and dimwit — that insult a person's intelligence. A simpleton is the opposite of a genius. However, the word simple implies more than lack of intelligence; it suggests being innocent or naive too. So a simpleton could be considered a hillbilly or yokel as well as a dullard or dunce.
Vocabulary lists containing simpleton
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
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One for the Murphys
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I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter
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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.
And not in the simpleton type of way.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 26, 2023
Redmayne plays a creep; Henry, a yearner; Keoghan, a simpleton.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 2, 2023
Like Gump, a good-hearted simpleton, who travels through milestones in US history - the Vietnam War, the Watergate scandal - Chaddha's life takes him through the cultural and political turnpikes of 20th-Century India.
From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2022
The “New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English,” defines it as a shortened version of simpleton, so the phrase’s original meaning is rooted in calling someone stupid.
From New York Times ● Jul. 7, 2020
It could also be argued that the name implied that only a simpleton would believe the Ptolemaic system was correct.
From "The Scientists" by John Gribbin
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.
