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imbecility. folly

Roget category 499

4. Words relating to the intellectual faculties
4.5. Results of reasoning
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#499. Imbecility. Folly

noun

want of intelligence etc. 498, want of intellect etc. 450shadowness, silliness, foolishness etc. adj. — imbecility, incapacity, vacancy of mind, poverty of intellect, weakness of intellect, clouded perception, poor head, apartments to letstupidity, stolidityhebetude, dull understanding, meanest capacity, shortsightednessincompetence etc. (unskillfulness) 699.
one's weak side, not one's strong pointbias etc. 481infatuation etc. (insanity) 503.
simplicity, puerility, babyhooddotage, anility, second childishness, fatuityidiocy, idiotismdriveling.
folly, frivolity, irrationality, trifling, ineptitude, nugacity, inconsistency, lip wisdom, conceitsophistry etc. 477giddiness etc. (inattention) 458eccentricity etc. 503extravagance etc. (absurdity) 497rashness etc. 863.
act of folly etc. 699.

verb

to be an imbecile etc. adj. — have no brains, have no sense etc. 498.
trifle, drivel, radoter, doteramble etc. (madness) 503play the fool, play the monkey, monkey around, fool aroundtake leave of one's senses (insanity) 503not see an inch beyond one's nosestultify oneself etc. 699talk nonsense etc. 497.

adjective

unintelligent [Applied to persons], unintellectual, unreasoningmindless, witless, reasoningless, brainlesshalfbakedhaving no head etc. 498not bright etc. 498inapprehensible.
weak headed, addle headed, puzzle headed, blunder headed, muddle headed, muddy headed, pig headed, beetle headed, buffle headed, chuckle headed, mutton headed, maggoty headed, grossheadedbeef headed, fat witted, fat-headed.
weak-minded, feeble-mindeddull minded, shallow minded, lack-brainedrattle-brained, rattle headedhalf witted, lean witted, short witted, dull witted, blunt-witted, shallow-pated, clod-pated, addle-pated, addle-braineddim-sighted, short-sightedthick-skulledweak in the upper story.
shallow, borne, weak, wanting, soft, sappy, spoonydull, dull as a beetlestupid, heavy, insulse, obtuse, blunt, stolid, doltishasinineinapt etc. 699prosaic etc. 843hebetudinous.
childish, child-likeinfantine, infantile, babyish, babishpuerile, anilesimple etc. (credulous) 486old-womanish.
fatuous, idiotic, imbecile, drivelingblatant, babblingvacantsottishbewildered etc. 475.
blockish, unteachable Boeotian, Boeoticbovineungifted, undiscerning, unenlightened, unwise, unphilosophicalapishsimious.
foolish, silly, senseless, irrational, insensate, nonsensical, ineptmaudlin.
narrow-minded etc. 481bigoted etc. (obstinate) 606giddy etc. (thoughtless) 458rash etc. 863eccentric etc. (crazed) 503.
[Applied to actions] foolish, unwise, injudicious, improper, unreasonable, without reason, ridiculous, absurd, idiotic, silly, stupid, asinineill-imagined, ill-advised, ill-judged, ill-devisedmal entendu [Fr.]inconsistent, irrational, unphilosophicalextravagant etc. (nonsensical) 497sleeveless, idlepointless, useless etc. 645inexpedient etc. 647frivolous etc. (trivial) 643.

phrase

Davus sum non [Lat.] [Oedipus]; a fool's bolt is soon shot" [Henry

verb

]
clitellae bovi sunt impositae [Lat.] [Cicero]; fools rush in where angels fear to tread" [Pope]; il n' a ni bouche ni eperon [Fr.]the bookful blockhead, ignorantly read" [Pope]; to varnish nonsense with the charms of sound" [Churchill].

The content on this page comes straight from Project Gutenberg Etext of Roget's Thesaurus No. Two, which consists of the acclaimed work by Peter Mark Roget augmented with more recent material. Some changes were made to the formatting for improved readability.

Bold numbers signify related Roget categories. A dagger symbol (†) indicates archaic words and expressions no longer in common use.

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