Standard Lemma guide

unintelligent

adj · 2 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

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • General-American: /ˌʌnənˈtɛləd͡ʒənt/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Not intelligent.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: 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 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: none provided

2

adjective

Meaning 2

lacking intelligence

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a dull job with lazy and unintelligent co-workers

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: stupid

Antonyms: intelligent

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *né Proto-Indo-European *n̥- Proto-Germanic *un- Proto-West Germanic *un- Old English un- Middle English un- English un- English intelligent English unintelligent From un- + intelligent.

Across languages

Translations

11 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Catalan: inintel·ligent — not intelligent
  • French: inintelligent — not intelligent
  • Ancient Greek: ἀσύνετος (asúnetos) — not intelligent
  • Italian: inintelligente — not intelligent
  • Sanskrit: अज्ञान (ajñāna) — not intelligent
  • Sanskrit: मूर्ख (mūrkha) — not intelligent
  • Sanskrit: जल (jala) — not intelligent
  • Spanish: ininteligente — not intelligent
  • Swedish: ointelligent — not intelligent
  • Ottoman Turkish: بوك (böñ) — not intelligent
  • Ottoman Turkish: شاشقین (şaşkın) — not intelligent