A Word A Day : Imbecile




Monday, 1st October 2007 : Today's Word is ...

Imbecile



( Noun )


Pronunciation : im'be-sil

1. A stupid or silly person

2. A person whose mental acumen is well below par

3. A person of moderate to severe mental retardation having a mental age of from three to seven years and generally being capable of some degree of communication and performance of simple tasks under supervision. The term belongs to a classification system no longer in use and is now considered offensive

4. One deficient in judgment and good sense


Etymology:


From obsolete French imbecille, weak, feeble, from Old French, from Latin imbēcillus : in-, not


Synonyms:


Ass, Fool, Idiot, Jackass, Mooncalf, Moron, Nincompoop, Ninny, Nitwit, Simple, Simpleton, Softhead, Tomfool


Antonyms:


Brain, Genius, Intellectual


Contextual Examples:


• Am I not as brave, and much more intelligent, than that imbecile De Vitry?

• Pierre continued, in French, to persuade the officer not to hold that drunken imbecile to account.

• How hard it is to make your thoughts look anything but imbecile fools when you paint them with ink on paper.

Related Words:


1. Imbecilely : Adverb

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