idiot
nounadjectivetop 1 000 in film dialogue
- United Kingdom//ˈɪdiət//
- //ˈɪd͡ʒət//
A person of low general intelligence.
noun
- 1
A person of low general intelligence.
Only an idiot would fail this exam.
After failing a hat-trick of exams, the teacher called him an idiot.
- 2
A person who makes stupid decisions; a fool.
He thought people who don't like cricket are idiots. He later got into fights with people who like football.
We think that people who cycle without a helmet are idiots.
“He’s an idiot – in terms of saying that. Everybody knows this. Everybody knows it. Nobody doubts it,” Biden said.
- 3
obsoleteA person of the lowest intellectual standing, a person who lacks the capacity to develop beyond the mental age of a normal four-year-old; a person with an IQ below 30.
Idiots were thought to be peculiarly under the care of the Deity, and it was believed that those who treated them kindly would be blessed.
It is an offence for a man to have unlawful sexual intercourse with a woman whom he knows to be an idiot or imbecile.
Etymology
From Middle English idiote, ydiote, from Old French idiote (later idiot), from Latin idiota, from Ancient Greek ἰδιώτης (idiṓtēs, “a private citizen, one who has no professional knowledge, layman”), from ἴδιος (ídios, “one's own, pertaining to oneself, private”). Doublet of idiota. By surface analysis, idi- + -ot.
adjective
- 1
Idiotic, stupid.
Forms
- plural
- idiots
- comparative
- more idiot
- superlative
- most idiot
idiot · A person of low general intelligence.
IDiot · A proponent of intelligent design.idiotic · Pertaining to or resembling an idiot; characterised with…idle · Not being used appropriately; not occupied; (of time) with…