Dumb Definition

dŭm
dumbed, dumbest, dumbing, dumbs, dumber
adjective
dumbest, dumber
Lacking the power of speech; mute.
Webster's New World
Incapable of using speech; mute. Used of humans.
American Heritage
Not accompanied by speech.
Webster's New World
Unwilling to talk; silent.
Webster's New World
Temporarily speechless, as from fear.
Webster's New World
verb
To make silent or dumb.
American Heritage
Wiktionary

To make stupid.

Wiktionary

To represent as stupid.

Wiktionary

To reduce the intellectual demands of.

Wiktionary
idiom
dumb down
  • to make or become less intelligent or intellectually demanding
Webster's New World

Other Word Forms of Dumb

Adjective

Base Form:
dumb
Comparative:
dumber
Superlative:
dumbest

Idioms, Phrasal Verbs Related to Dumb

Origin of Dumb

  • From Middle English dumb, from Old English dumb (“silent, silent, speechless, mute, unable to speak”), from Proto-Germanic *dumbaz (“dull, dumb”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeubʰ- (“to whisk, smoke, darken, obscure”). Cognate with Scots dumb (“dumb, silent”), North Frisian dom, domme (“dumb, stupid”), West Frisian dom (“dumb, stupid”), Dutch dom (“dumb, stupid”), German dumm (“dumb, stupid”), Swedish dum (“stupid”), Icelandic dumbur (“dumb, mute”).

    From Wiktionary

  • From Middle English dumbien, from Old English dumbian (more commonly in compound ādumbian (“to become mute or dumb; keep silence; hold one’s peace”)), from Proto-Germanic *dumbēną, *dumbōną (“to be silent, become dumb”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeubʰ- (“to whisk, smoke, darken, obscure”). Cognate with German dummen (“to become dumb”).

    From Wiktionary

  • In ordinary spoken English, a phrase like "He is dumb" is interpreted as "He is stupid" rather than "He lacks the power of speech". The latter example, however, is the original sense of the word. The senses of stupid, unintellectual, and pointless developed under the influence of the German word dumm (which itself derives from Old High German tumb).

    From Wiktionary

  • Middle English from Old English

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

Find Similar Words

Find similar words to dumb using the buttons below.

Words Starting With

Words Ending With

Unscrambles

dumb