dumb Hear it!

dumb Definition

dumb (dum)

adjective

  1. lacking the power of speech; mute: now regarded as offensive
  2. unwilling to talk; silent
  3. not accompanied by speech
  4. temporarily speechless, as from fear
  5. producing no sound
  6. lacking some normal part, characteristic, or quality
  7. ☆

    Etymology: Ger dumm

    Informal stupid; moronic
  8. Comput. designating or of a terminal not equipped with its own processor

Etymology: ME & OE, akin to Ger dumm (Goth dumbs), mute, stupid < nasalized var. of IE *dheubh < base *dheu-: see dull

dumb Related Forms

dumb′ly adverb dumb′·ness noun

dumb Idioms

dumb down

☆

Informal to make or become less intelligent or intellectually demanding

dumb Synonyms

dumb

modif.

  1. Unable to speak

    silent, mute, voiceless, speechless, inarticulate, wordless, quiet, mum, aphonic, deaf and dumb*; see also mute 1, quiet 2.

  2. Temporarily speechless

    speechless, tongue-tied, dumbstruck, wordless, at a loss for words; see also surprised.

  3. *Stupid

    simple-minded, feeble-minded, moronic; see dull 3, stupid 1.

dumb implies a lack of the power of speech and is now more often applied to brute animals and inanimate objects than to persons with impaired speech organs a dumb beast; voiceless is applied to one who has no voice, either from birth or through deprivation the throat operation left him voiceless; speechless usually implies temporary or momentary deprivation of the ability to speak speechless with horror; mute is applied to persons incapable of speech because of congenital deafness and not through absence or impairment of the speech organs

dumb Usage Examples

Infinitive complement

know: That's me - too dumb to know any better.

Modifying Another Word

  • pretty: Of that final fight against Tyson he has said: ' Guess I fought a pretty dumb fight.
  • incredibly: Incredibly dumb mistake on my part while creating 2.3 which led to problems even worse than those in 2.2 is now fixed.
  • plain: Another reference to " Kennedy " airport in 1959 is just plain dumb.
  • too: That's me - too dumb to know any better.
  • really: Plot Outline: A group of really dumb teenagers are stalked by a really dumb killer ala Scream fashion.
  • so: She was so dumb, she screwed a writer!

Adjective complement with noun phrase

do: Ginji does something really dumb and winds up in the middle of a madcap hospital farce.

Modifies a noun

  • waiter: Food prepared here can move easily to tables above and below via the dumb waiters.
  • ass: FOUNTAIN: It's a cable TV show where the kids act like, well, dumb asses.
  • insolence: When a computer doesn't ' understand ' what we mean, it puts on a masterly display of ' dumb insolence ' .
  • terminal: Existing PCs can be made to act like dumb terminals, linked to servers hosted by " server farms " .
  • idol: For the workman trusts in his own creation when he makes dumb idols!
  • barge: In view of the distances involved, the normal traffic was a steam tug towing a number of dumb barges.

Used with adjective complement

  • strike: Mavis was almost struck dumb, probably for the first time in her life.
  • wake: Kineo Newsletter Don't wake up dumber than you went to bed.
  • play: It's rather late to play dumb, bastard.
  • seem: The 4-3-3 with wingers has done the trick for the past two seasons, so it seems dumb to change it.
  • feel: TODAY it's the girl movies that make me feel dumb ( e.g, Must Like Dogs ).
  • act: Is your company thinking about blogs or acting dumb?