dumb Definition
dumb (dum)
adjective
- lacking the power of speech; mute: now regarded as offensive
- unwilling to talk; silent
- not accompanied by speech
- temporarily speechless, as from fear
- producing no sound
- lacking some normal part, characteristic, or quality
- ☆
Etymology: Ger dumm
Informal stupid; moronic - 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 Idioms
dumb down
☆Informal to make or become less intelligent or intellectually demanding
dumb Synonyms
dumb
modif.
Unable to speak
silent, mute, voiceless, speechless, inarticulate, wordless, quiet, mum, aphonic, deaf and dumb*; see also mute 1, quiet 2.Temporarily speechless
speechless, tongue-tied, dumbstruck, wordless, at a loss for words; see also surprised.*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?
Browse dictionary entries near dumb
- ‹ Dumas, Alexandre, pe' re
- ‹ Dumas, Alexandre, fils
- ‹ Dumas
- ‹ Duma
- ‹ dum-dum
- ‹ duly
- ‹ Duluth
- ‹ dulse
- ‹ dully
- ‹ dullsville
- dumb show ›
- dumb terminal ›
- Dumbarton ›
- dumbbell ›
- dumbfound ›
- dumbfounded ›
- dumbstruck ›
- dumbwaiter ›
- dumdum ›
- dumdum (bullet) ›

