Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
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adj
Unable to speak; lacking power of speech.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: dated
Synonyms: mute, speechless, wordless
Antonyms: none provided
adj
Not talkative; taciturn or unwilling to speak.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: archaic
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adj
Having no input or voice in running things.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: dated
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adj
Unaccompanied by words or speech, silent, wordless.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: dated, usually
Qualifier: actions
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adj
Not producing any sound, silent.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: dated
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adj
Stupid.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: derogatory, especially, informal
Synonyms: feeble-minded, idiotic, moronic, stupid, addlebrained, addlepated, airheaded, bee-brained, beef-witted, beefheaded, beetle-headed, birdbrained, blockheaded, Boeotian, boneheaded, boofheaded, braindead, brainless, bubbleheaded, buffle-headed, bullet-headed, cerebrally challenged, childish, chowderheaded, chuckleheaded, crackbrained, cretinous, daft, dense, dented, dim-bulb, dim-headed, dim-witted, dim, doltish, dopey, dozy, drowsy, dull-headed, dull-minded, dull-witted, dull, dumber than a box of rocks, dumb, dunderheaded, empty-headed, fatheaded, flea-brained, foolish, fuzzy-headed, fuzzy-minded, goofy, half-brained, half-witted, hammer-headed, ignorant, imbecilic, inane, insipid, intellectually challenged, knuckleheaded, lamebrained, lowbrow, lumpish, lunkheaded, mentally challenged, mentally retarded, mindless, monosynaptic, muttonheaded, nitwitted, numbskulled, oafish, obtuse, peabrained, pratty, pudding-headed, puerile, purblind, quarter-witted, retarded, ridiculous, rockheaded, sharp as a bowling ball, sheep-headed, silly, simple, slow, slow on the uptake, slow-witted, smooth-brained, stolid, thick-skulled, thickheaded, thickwitted, thick, unapprehensive, unclever, uninformed, unintelligent, unsmart, vacant, vacuous, witless, wooden-headed, wool-headed, woolly-headed, woolly-minded, dumb as a bag of hammers, dumb as a box of rocks, dumb as a doorknob, dumb as an ox, dumb as a post, dumb as a sack of hammers, dumb as dirt, dumber than a rock, not the sharpest crayon in the box, not the sharpest knife in the drawer, not the sharpest tool in the shed, thick as a brick, thick as a plank, thick as champ, thick as mince, thick as two short planks, thick as a whale omelette, ass-brained, fuckwitted, shit-for-brains, thick as pig shit
Antonyms: intelligent, smart
adj
Pointless, foolish, lacking intellectual content or value.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: figuratively
Synonyms: banal, brainless, dopey, silly, stupid, ridiculous, vulgar
Antonyms: none provided
adj
Lacking some functionality or property ordinarily characteristic of its kind.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adj
Not equipped with intelligent behavior or processing capabilities of its own.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: smart
adj
Lacking brightness or clearness as a colour; dim, dull.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete, rare
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adj
An intensifier expressing contempt; damn, damned.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: dated
Qualifier: African-American Vernacular
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adj
An acronym for remembering desirable characteristics for goal-setting: dream-driven, uplifting, method-driven, behavior-driven.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: mnemonic, not-comparable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adv
Very, extremely.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: not-comparable
Qualifier: African-American Vernacular
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: type, mad, hella, wicked, odee, bare
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Alternative form of D.U.M.B. (deep underground military base)
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: alt-of, alternative
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To silence.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: dated, transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To make stupid.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To represent as stupid.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To reduce the intellectual demands of.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adjective satellite
unable to speak because of hereditary deafness
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: mute, silent
Antonyms: none provided
adjective satellite
lacking the power of human speech
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adjective satellite
temporarily incapable of speaking
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Synonyms: speechless
Antonyms: none provided
adjective satellite
slow to learn or understand; lacking intellectual acuity- Thackeray
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Synonyms: dense, dim, dull, obtuse, slow
Antonyms: none provided
History
From Middle English dumb (“silent, speechless, mute, ineffectual”), from Old English dumb (“silent, speechless, mute, unable to speak”), from Proto-West Germanic *dumb, from Proto-Germanic *dumbaz (“dull, dumb”), from Proto-Indo-European *dhewbh- (“to whisk, smoke, darken, obscure”). The senses of stupid, unintellectual, and pointless, which are found regularly since the 19th century only, probably developed under the influence of German dumm and Dutch dom. Just like the English word, these originally meant "lacking the power of speech", but they developed the mentioned senses early on. Cognates Cognate with Scots dumb (“dumb, silent”), North Frisian dom, domme (“dumb, stupid”), West Frisian dom (“dumb, stupid”), Dutch dom (“dumb, stupid”), German dumm (“dumb, stupid”), Danish dum (“stupid”), Swedish dum (“stupid”), Icelandic dumbur (“dumb, mute”). See also deaf.
A minced oath of damn.
From Middle English dumben, from Old English *dumbian (found in the compound ādumbian (“to become mute or dumb; keep silence; hold one’s peace”)), from Proto-Germanic *dumbijaną, *dumbōną (“to be silent, become dumb”), from Proto-Indo-European *dhewbh- (“to whisk, smoke, darken, obscure”). Cognate with German verdummen (“to become dumb”).
Across languages
106 source translations are retained for this English entry.
