Adjacent Words

Idiot definitions

	Tweet

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

ID'IOT, n.[L. idiota; Gr. private,vulgar,unskilled, peculiar, that is, separate, simple. See Idiom.]
1. A natural fool or fool from his birth; a human being in form, but destitute of reason, or the ordinary intellectual powers of man.
A person who has understanding enough to measure a yard of cloth, number twenty correctly, tell the days of the week, etc., is not an idiot in the eye of the law.
2. A foolish person; one unwise.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a person of subnormal intelligence [syn: idiot, imbecile, cretin, moron, changeling, half-wit, retard]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French ydiote, from Latin idiota ignorant person, from Greek idi?t?s one in a private station, layman, ignorant person, from idios one's own, private; akin to Latin suus one's own — more at suicide Date: 14th century 1. (usually offensive) a person affected with idiocy 2. a foolish or stupid person • idiot adjective

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 colloq. a stupid person; an utter fool. 2 a person deficient in mind and permanently incapable of rational conduct. Phrases and idioms: idiot board (or card) colloq. a board displaying a television script to a speaker as an aid to memory. Derivatives: idiotic adj. idiotically adv. Etymology: ME f. OF f. L idiota ignorant person f. Gk idiotes private person, layman, ignorant person f. idios own, private

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Idiot Id"i*ot, n. [F. idiot, L. idiota an uneducated, ignorant, ill-informed person, Gr. ?, also and orig., a private person, not holding public office, fr. ? proper, peculiar. See Idiom.] 1. A man in private station, as distinguished from one holding a public office. [Obs.] St. Austin affirmed that the plain places of Scripture are sufficient to all laics, and all idiots or private persons. --Jer. Taylor. 2. An unlearned, ignorant, or simple person, as distinguished from the educated; an ignoramus. [Obs.] Christ was received of idiots, of the vulgar people, and of the simpler sort, while he was rejected, despised, and persecuted even to death by the high priests, lawyers, scribes, doctors, and rabbis. --C. Blount. 3. A human being destitute of the ordinary intellectual powers, whether congenital, developmental, or accidental; commonly, a person without understanding from birth; a natural fool; a natural; an innocent. Life . . . is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing. --Shak. 4. A fool; a simpleton; -- a term of reproach. Weenest thou make an idiot of our dame? --Chaucer.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(idiots) If you call someone an idiot, you are showing that you think they are very stupid or have done something very stupid. I knew I'd been an idiot to stay there... = fool N-COUNT [disapproval]

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. Fool, natural, natural fool, congenital imbecile, imbecile.

Foolish Dictionary

From Eng. idea, and out. One who is just out of ideas.

Moby Thesaurus

alcoholic, aliene, alternating personality, ament, antisocial personality, ass, bedlamite, borderline case, born fool, clot, congenital idiot, crackbrain, crackpot, cretin, defective, dement, demoniac, disordered personality, disturbed personality, donkey, double personality, drug user, dual personality, dullard, dullhead, dumbbell, dummkopf, dummy, emotionally unstable personality, energumen, escapist, fanatic, flake, fou, golem, half-wit, hostile personality, hypochondriac, hypochondriast, ignoramus, imaginary invalid, imbecile, immature personality, inadequate personality, inferior personality, jackass, jerk, jester, juggins, kook, loon, loony, lunatic, madman, malade imaginaire, maladjusted personality, maniac, mentally defective personality, meshuggenah, mongoloid idiot, moral insanity, moron, motley, multiple personality, natural, natural idiot, natural-born fool, neuropath, neurotic, neurotic personality, nincompoop, ninny, noncompos, nut, paranoid personality, perverse personality, phrenetic, psychoneurotic, psychopath, psychopathic personality, psychotic, psychotic personality, raving lunatic, schizoid, schizoid personality, screwball, seclusive personality, sexual psychopath, shut-in personality, simp, simpleton, sociopath, split personality, stupid, tomfool, valetudinarian, valetudinary, weak personality, weirdo, zany