dumb
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /dʌm/
note: Indic
ipa: /ɖəm(b)/
Forms: form: dumber
form: dumbest
Etymology: From Middle English dumb (“silent, speechless, mute, ineffectual”), from Old English dumb (“silent, speechless, mute, unable to speak”), from Proto-West Germanic *dumb, from Proto-Germanic *dumbaz (“dull, dumb”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewbʰ- (“to whisk, smoke, darken, obscure”).
The senses of stupid, unintellectual, and pointless, which are found regularly since the 19th century only, probably developed under the influence of German dumm and Dutch dom. Just like the English word, these originally meant "lacking the power of speech", but they developed the mentioned senses early on.
Cognates
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”), Danish dum (“stupid”), Swedish dum (“stupid”), Icelandic dumbur (“dumb, mute”). See also deaf.
Senses: examples: raw_tags: set phrase
text: deaf, dumb, and blind
text: His younger brother was born dumb, and communicated with sign language.
text: to unloose the very tongues even of dumb creatures
ref: 1594–1597, Richard Hooker, edited by J[ohn] S[penser], Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Will[iam] Stansby [for Matthew Lownes], published 1611, →OCLC, (please specify the page):
text: The country people frequently ſay,—How can you treat a poor dumb beaſt ill; and a ſtreſs is very properly laid on the word dumb; for dumb they appear to thoſe who do not obſerve their looks and geſtures; but God, who takes care of every thing, underſtands their language...
ref: 1788, Mary Wollstonecraft, chapter 2, in Original Stories from Real Life (Children's literature), London: J. Johnson, published 1796, pages 10–11:
text: We are dumb and we would talk
ref: 1884 January 5, “Mighty maiden with a mission”, in W. S. Gilbert (lyrics), Arthur Sullivan (music), Princess Ida, performed by D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, London, page 48:
text: It is true, there is Turkish of which I had picked up a few phrases, and there is Chinese of which I did not understand a single word. But I had no fear of remaining dumb in Turkestan and the Celestial Empire.
ref: a. 1905, anonymous translator, The Adventures of a Special Correspondent Among the Various Races and Countries of Central Asia, translation of Claudius Bombarnac by Jules Verne:
text: Deaf and blind and dumb and born to follow / What you need is someone strong to guide you
ref: 1992, “Opiate”, performed by Tool:
synonyms: mute
speechless
wordless
glosses: Unable to speak; lacking power of speech.
glosses: Not talkative; taciturn or unwilling to speak.
examples: text: Life was never a May-game for men; in all times the lot of the dumb-millions born to toil was defaced with manifold sufferings, injustices, heavy burdens, avoidable and unavoidable; not play at all, but hard work that made the sinews sore, and the heart sore.
ref: 1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, “Democracy”, in Past and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and James Brown, published 1843, →OCLC, book III (The Modern Worker), page 210:
glosses: Having no input or voice in running things.
examples: text: dumb show
text: Since you are tongue-tied and so loath to speak
In dumb significants proclaim your thoughts
ref: 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iv]:
text: O let my books be then the eloquence
And dumb presagers of my speaking breast […]
ref: 1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 23”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC:
text: to pierce into the dumb past
ref: 1881, John Campbell Shairp, Aspects of Poetry:
qualifier: actions
glosses: Unaccompanied by words or speech, silent, wordless.
raw_tags: of things
examples: text: […] Thro’ lands where not a leaf was dumb;
⁠But all the lavish hills would hum
The murmur of a happy Pan: […]
ref: 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XXIII”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 39:
glosses: Not producing any sound, silent.
examples: text: You are so dumb! You don't even know how to make toast!
synonyms: word: feeble-minded
word: idiotic
word: moronic
word: stupid
word: addlebrained
word: addlepated
word: airheaded
word: bee-brained
word: beef-witted
word: beefheaded
word: beetle-headed
word: birdbrained
word: blockheaded
word: Boeotian
word: boneheaded
word: boofheaded
word: brainless
word: bubbleheaded
word: buffle-headed
word: bullet-headed
word: cerebrally challenged
word: childish
word: chowderheaded
word: chuckleheaded
word: crackbrained
word: cretinous
word: dense
word: dented
word: dim-bulb
word: dim-headed
word: dim-witted
word: dim
word: doltish
word: dopey
word: dozy
word: drowsy
word: dull-headed
word: dull-minded
word: dull-witted
word: dull
word: dumber than a box of rocks
word: dumb
word: dunderheaded
word: empty-headed
word: fatheaded
word: feeble-minded
word: flea-brained
word: foolish
word: fuzzy-headed
word: fuzzy-minded
word: half-brained
word: half-witted
word: hammer-headed
word: idiotic
word: imbecilic
word: inane
word: insipid
word: intellectually challenged
word: knuckleheaded
word: lamebrained
word: lowbrow
word: lumpish
word: lunkheaded
word: mentally challenged
word: mentally retarded
word: mindless
word: monosynaptic
word: moronic
word: muttonheaded
word: nitwitted
word: numbskulled
word: oafish
word: obtuse
word: peabrained
word: pratty
word: pudding-headed
word: puerile
word: purblind
word: quarter-witted
word: retarded
word: rockheaded
word: sharp as a bowling ball
word: sheep-headed
word: simple
word: slow-witted
word: slow
word: smooth-brained
word: stolid
word: stupid
word: thick-skulled
word: thickheaded
word: thickwitted
word: thick
word: unapprehensive
word: unclever
word: unintelligent
word: unsmart
word: vacant
word: vacuous
word: witless
word: wooden-headed
word: wool-headed
word: woolly-headed
word: woolly-minded
word: dumb as a bag of hammers
word: dumb as a box of rocks
word: dumb as a doorknob
word: dumb as an ox
word: dumb as a post
word: dumb as a sack of hammers
word: dumb as dirt
word: dumber than a rock
word: not the sharpest crayon in the box
word: not the sharpest knife in the drawer
word: not the sharpest tool in the shed
word: thick as a brick
word: thick as a plank
word: thick as champ
word: thick as mince
word: thick as two short planks
word: thick as a whale omelette
word: ass-brained
word: fuckwitted
word: shit-for-brains
word: thick as pig shit
antonyms: intelligent
smart
glosses: Stupid.
raw_tags: of a person
examples: text: This is dumb! We're driving in circles! We should have asked for directions an hour ago!
text: Brendan had the dumb job of moving boxes from one conveyor belt to another.
synonyms: banal
brainless
dopey
silly
stupid
ridiculous
vulgar
glosses: Pointless, foolish, lacking intellectual content or value.
glosses: Lacking some functionality or property ordinarily characteristic of its kind.
antonyms: smart
glosses: Not equipped with intelligent behavior or processing capabilities of its own.
raw_tags: of technology
examples: text: Her stern, which was painted of a dumb white or dun color.
ref: 1720, Daniel Defoe, The Life, Adventures and Piracies of the Famous Captain Singleton:
glosses: Lacking brightness or clearness as a colour; dim, dull.
Derived terms: sense: Suffixed forms
word: dumbdom
sense: Suffixed forms
word: dumben
sense: Suffixed forms
word: dumbhood
sense: Suffixed forms
word: dumbie
sense: Suffixed forms
word: dumbification
sense: Suffixed forms
word: dumbify
sense: Suffixed forms
word: dumbish
sense: Suffixed forms
word: dumbling
sense: Suffixed forms
word: dumbly
sense: Suffixed forms
word: dumbness
sense: Suffixed forms
word: dumbo
sense: Suffixed forms
word: dumbocracy
sense: Suffixed forms
word: dumbocrat
sense: Suffixed forms
word: dumbski
sense: Suffixed forms
word: dummy
sense: Suffixed forms
word: fandumb
sense: Suffixed forms
word: freedumb
sense: Suffixed forms
word: Mormondumb
sense: Suffixed forms
word: randumb
sense: Suffixed forms
word: undumb
sense: Suffixed forms
word: wisdumb
sense: Comparisons
word: dumb as a bag of hammers
sense: Comparisons
word: dumb as a box of rocks
sense: Comparisons
word: dumb as a brick
sense: Comparisons
word: dumb as a doorknob
sense: Comparisons
word: dumb as a doornail
sense: Comparisons
word: dumb as a fish
sense: Comparisons
word: dumb as an ox
sense: Comparisons
word: dumb as a post
sense: Comparisons
word: dumb as a rock
sense: Comparisons
word: dumb as a sack of bricks
sense: Comparisons
word: dumb as a sack of hammers
sense: Comparisons
word: dumb as a stump
sense: Comparisons
word: dumb as dirt
sense: Comparisons
word: dumb as nails
sense: Comparisons
word: dumb like a fox
sense: Others
word: a dumb priest never got a parish
sense: Others
word: beauty fades, dumb is forever
sense: Others
word: deaf and dumb
sense: Others
word: dumb ague
sense: Others
word: dumbass
sense: Others
word: dumbassed
sense: Others
word: dumb barge
sense: Others
word: dumbbell
sense: Others
word: dumb blond
sense: Others
word: dumb bomb
sense: Others
word: dumb bunny
sense: Others
word: dumbbutt
sense: Others
word: dumb cake
sense: Others
word: dumb cancel
sense: Others
word: dumbcane
sense: Others
word: dumb chamber
sense: Others
word: dumb charade
sense: Others
word: dumb charades
sense: Others
word: dumb chill
sense: Others
word: dumb chum
sense: Others
word: dumb cluck
sense: Others
word: dumb crambo
sense: Others
word: dumb Dora
sense: Others
word: dumbfound
sense: Others
word: dumbfounded
sense: Others
word: dumbfounder
sense: Others
word: dumb friend
sense: Others
word: dumb fuck
sense: Others
word: dumb fucker
sense: Others
word: dumb genius
sense: Others
word: dumbhead
sense: Others
word: dumb hole
sense: Others
word: dumb insolence
sense: Others
word: dumb luck
sense: Others
word: dumb money
sense: Others
word: dumb muscle
sense: Others
word: dumb network
sense: Others
word: dumbnutdumbsize
sense: Others
word: dumb out
sense: Others
word: dumb peal
sense: Others
word: dumbphone
sense: Others
word: dumb piano
sense: Others
word: dumb pipe
sense: Others
word: dumb quotes
sense: Others
word: dumbshit
sense: Others
word: dumb show
sense: Others
word: dumb spinet
sense: Others
word: dumbstruck
sense: Others
word: dumb tax
sense: Others
word: dumb TV
sense: Others
word: dumbwaiter
sense: Others
word: dumb well
sense: Others
word: outdumb
sense: Others
word: rock-dumb
sense: Others
word: semidumb
sense: Others
word: strike dumb