simpleton

[ sim-puhl-tuhn ]

noun

, Sometimes Offensive.

1. an ignorant, foolish, or silly person.

   Synonyms: dope, ninny, blockhead, numbskull, fool, dolt

simpleton

/ ˈsɪmpəltən /

noun

1. a foolish or ignorant person

Word History and Origins

Origin of simpleton¹

First recorded in 1640–50; simple + -ton

Example Sentences

By the end, characters are either Team Anna, or they’re painted as shrews and simpletons.

From Vox

Unless we are simpletons, we are all to some extent paradoxes, and Lopez was both an indefatigable traveler and, as writers must be, a monastic homebody.

From Outside Online

To put it charitably, this is the jurisprudence of the simpleton.

From The Daily Beast

George Lindsay played the lovable simpleton Goober Pyle on ‘The Andy Griffith Show.’

From The Daily Beast

There's some vile plot laid against Howard, but if he doesn't come clean out of it with flying colors, call me a simpleton.

From Project Gutenberg

Then he pinched Betsy's ear in his usual familiar fashion, saying as he did so, "Saucy simpleton!"

From Project Gutenberg

Don't talk to me as if I were a simpleton—with your own false simplifications!

From Project Gutenberg

And you ought to have kept me from making such a simpleton of myself, Edward.

From Project Gutenberg

The credulous simpleton already saw himself beheaded and wept in anticipation over the fate of his family.

From Project Gutenberg