Phrase guide

thick as a brick

adj · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

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

Pronunciation

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1

adj

Meaning 1

Very stupid; slow to learn or understand.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

Qualifier: simile

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: dumb as an ox, 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, 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, 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 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: none provided

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

32 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Chinese Mandarin: 愚不可及 (yúbùkějí) — Translations
  • Czech: blbý jako troky — Translations
  • Czech: tupý jako necky — Translations
  • Czech: blbý jako tágo — Translations
  • Danish: dum som et bræt — Translations
  • Danish: dum som en skovl — Translations
  • Danish: dum som en dør — Translations
  • Dutch: plank voor het hoofd — Translations
  • Esperanto: malsaĝa kiel ŝtipo — Translations
  • Finnish: tyhmä kuin saapas — Translations
  • French: bête à manger du foin — Translations
  • French: bête comme ses pieds — Translations
  • French: con comme un balai — Translations
  • French: con comme la lune — Translations
  • French: con comme une chaise — Translations
  • French: con comme un manche — Translations
  • German: dumm wie Bohnenstroh — Translations
  • German: dumm wie Brot — Translations
  • Hebrew: טיפש כמו נעל — Translations
  • Icelandic: nautheimskur — Translations
  • Norwegian Bokmål: dum som et brød — Translations
  • Norwegian Bokmål: dum som en stut — Translations
  • Polish: głupi jak but — Translations
  • Portuguese: burro como uma porta — Translations
  • Romanian: prost ca noaptea — Translations
  • Russian: тупо́й, как про́бка (tupój, kak próbka) — Translations
  • Russian: туп как сиби́рский ва́ленок (tup kak sibírskij válenok) — Translations
  • Slovak: hlúpy ako peň — Translations
  • Slovene: neumen kot noč — Translations
  • Lower Sorbian: głupy ako pjeńk — Translations
  • Lower Sorbian: głupy ako snop — Translations
  • Swedish: dum som en gås — Translations