Adjacent Words

Imbecile definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

IM'BECILE, a. im'becil. [L. imbecillis.] Weak; feeble; destitute of strength, either of body or of mind; impotent.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: having a mental age of three to seven years [syn: imbecile, imbecilic, idiotic] n
1: a person of subnormal intelligence [syn: idiot, imbecile, cretin, moron, changeling, half-wit, retard]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: French imbécile, noun, from adjective, weak, weak-minded, from Latin imbecillus Date: 1802 1. usually offensive a person affected with moderate mental retardation 2. fool, idiot • imbecile or imbecilic adjective

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & adj. --n. 1 a person of abnormally weak intellect, esp. an adult with a mental age of about five. 2 colloq. a stupid person. --adj. mentally weak; stupid, idiotic. Derivatives: imbecilely adv. imbecilic adj. imbecility n. (pl. -ies). Etymology: F imbécil(l)e f. L imbecillus (as IN-(1), baculum stick) orig. in sense 'without supporting staff'

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Imbecile Im"be*cile, a. [L. imbecillis, and imbecillus; of unknown origin: cf. F. imb['e]cile.] Destitute of strength, whether of body or mind; feeble; impotent; esp., mentally wea; feeble-minded; as, hospitals for the imbecile and insane. Syn: Weak; feeble; feeble-minded; idiotic.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Imbecile Im"be*cile, n. One destitute of strength; esp., one of feeble mind.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Imbecile Im"be*cile, v. t. To weaken; to make imbecile; as, to imbecile men's courage. [Obs.] --Jer. Taylor.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(imbeciles) 1. If you call someone an imbecile, you are showing that you think they are stupid or have done something stupid. I don't want to deal with these imbeciles any longer. = idiot N-COUNT [disapproval] 2. Imbecile means stupid. It was an imbecile thing to do. ADJ: ADJ n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. a. 1. Weak, feeble, infirm, helpless, decrepit. 2. Foolish, witless, drivelling, idiotic, fatuous. II. n. 1. Dotard, feeble person. 2. Idiot, natural, congenital imbecile.

Moby Thesaurus

ament, amputee, anemic, apish, arrested, asinine, ass, asthenic, babbling, backward, batty, befooled, beguiled, besotted, blithering, bloodless, born fool, brainless, buffoonish, burbling, chicken, clot, cockeyed, congenital idiot, cowardly, crackbrained, cracked, crazy, credulous, cretin, cretinistic, cretinous, cripple, daffy, daft, dazed, debilitated, defective, deformity, dim-witted, dithering, dizzy, donkey, doting, driveling, drooling, drooping, droopy, dull, dumb, effete, etiolated, faint, faintish, fatuitous, fatuous, feeble, feebleminded, flabby, flaccid, flaky, floppy, fond, fool, foolheaded, foolish, fuddled, futile, gaga, golem, gone, goofy, gulled, gutless, half-baked, half-wit, half-witted, handicapped person, idiot, idiotic, imbecilic, impotent, inane, incapable, inept, infatuated, insane, jackass, jerk, juggins, kooky, languid, languorous, limber, limp, listless, loony, lustless, mad, marrowless, maudlin, maundering, mentally defective, mentally deficient, mentally handicapped, mentally retarded, mongoloid, mongoloid idiot, moron, moronic, natural, natural idiot, natural-born fool, nerveless, nincompoop, ninny, not all there, nutty, paralytic, paraplegic, pithless, pooped, powerless, quadriplegic, retarded, rubbery, sapless, sappy, screwy, senseless, sentimental, silly, simp, simple, simpleminded, simpleton, simpletonian, sinewless, slack, slobbering, slow, slow-witted, soft, spineless, strengthless, stupid, subnormal, the crippled, the handicapped, thoughtless, tomfool, unhardened, unnerved, unstrung, wacky, weak, weakly, wet, witless, zany