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.
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adj
Of a person: having impaired vision; partially blind; dim-sighted.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: literary
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: bisson, half-sighted, moonblind, purblinded, sandblind
Antonyms: none provided
adj
Of the eyes: unable to see well, especially due to old age; weak.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: literary
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adj
Of a person: lacking in discernment or understanding; dim-witted, unintelligent.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: figuratively, literary
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: obtuse, purblinded, 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, feeble-minded, flea-brained, foolish, fuzzy-headed, fuzzy-minded, goofy, half-brained, half-witted, hammer-headed, idiotic, ignorant, imbecilic, inane, insipid, intellectually challenged, knuckleheaded, lamebrained, lowbrow, lumpish, lunkheaded, mentally challenged, mentally retarded, mindless, monosynaptic, moronic, muttonheaded, nitwitted, numbskulled, oafish, 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, stupid, 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: astute, brainy, bright, brilliant, clever, educated, genius, gifted, hivey, ingenious, intellectual, intelligent, keen, knowledgeable, piquant, quick, quick on the uptake, quick-witted, rational, sagacious, savvy, scholared, sharp, smart, talented, whip-smart, wise
adj
Of a place: poorly illuminated; dark, dim.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: figuratively, literary
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adj
Completely blind.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: literary, obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adj
Having one eye blind.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: literary, obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adj
Near-sighted, short-sighted; myopic.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: literary, obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: mope-eyed
Antonyms: none provided
adj
Far-sighted, long-sighted; hypermetropic.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: literary, obsolete, rare
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A person who has impaired vision or is partially blind.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: literary
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To cause (someone) to have impaired vision or become partially blind.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: literary, transitive
Qualifier: often passive voice
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adjective satellite
lacking in insight or discernment- Jasper Griffin
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Synonyms: obtuse
Antonyms: none provided
adjective satellite
having greatly reduced vision
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: dim-sighted, near-blind, sand-blind, visually impaired, visually challenged
Antonyms: none provided
History
The adjective is derived from Middle English purblind (“(adjective) completely blind; blind in one eye; near-sighted; (noun) near-sighted animal, specifically a hare”) [and other forms], possibly from pur, pure (“completely, entirely”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pewH- (“to be clean; pure”); influenced by pur- (prefix meaning ‘completely; forward; in advance’)) + blind (“sightless, blind”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bhlendh- (“to blend, mix up; to make cloudy or opaque”)). Adjective sense 4.1 (“completely blind”) was the original sense. The senses denoting partial blindness are possibly the result of confusion of the first element pur- with poor, perhaps through folk etymology. (Compare parboil regarding per versus pars.) The noun and verb are derived from the adjective.
Across languages
22 source translations are retained for this English entry.
