imbecility. folly

Roget category 499

4. Words relating to the intellectual faculties
› 4.5. Results of reasoning
››

#499. Imbecility. Folly

noun

want of intelligence etc. 498, want of intellect etc. 450 — shadowness^†, silliness, foolishness etc. adj. — imbecility, incapacity, vacancy of mind, poverty of intellect, weakness of intellect, clouded perception, poor head, apartments to let — stupidity, stolidity — hebetude^†, dull understanding, meanest capacity, shortsightedness — incompetence etc. (unskillfulness) 699.
one's weak side, not one's strong point — bias etc. 481 — infatuation etc. (insanity) 503.
simplicity, puerility, babyhood — dotage, anility^†, second childishness, fatuity — idiocy, idiotism^† — driveling.
folly, frivolity, irrationality, trifling, ineptitude, nugacity^†, inconsistency, lip wisdom, conceit — sophistry etc. 477 — giddiness etc. (inattention) 458 — eccentricity etc. 503 — extravagance etc. (absurdity) 497 — rashness 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^†, dote — ramble etc. (madness) 503 — play the fool, play the monkey, monkey around, fool around — take leave of one's senses (insanity) 503 — not see an inch beyond one's nose — stultify oneself etc. 699 — talk nonsense etc. 497.

adjective

unintelligent [Applied to persons], unintellectual, unreasoning — mindless, witless, reasoningless^†, brainless — halfbaked — having no head etc. 498 — not bright etc. 498 — inapprehensible^†.
weak headed, addle headed, puzzle headed, blunder headed, muddle headed, muddy headed, pig headed, beetle headed, buffle headed^†, chuckle headed, mutton headed, maggoty headed, grossheaded^† — beef headed, fat witted, fat-headed.
weak-minded, feeble-minded — dull minded, shallow minded, lack-brained — rattle-brained, rattle headed — half witted, lean witted, short witted, dull witted, blunt-witted, shallow-pated^†, clod-pated^†, addle-pated^†, addle-brained^† — dim-sighted, short-sighted — thick-skulled — weak in the upper story.
shallow, borne, weak, wanting, soft, sappy, spoony — dull, dull as a beetle — stupid, heavy, insulse^†, obtuse, blunt, stolid, doltish — asinine — inapt etc. 699 — prosaic etc. 843 — hebetudinous^†.
childish, child-like — infantine^†, infantile, babyish, babish^† — puerile, anile — simple etc. (credulous) 486 — old-womanish.
fatuous, idiotic, imbecile, driveling — blatant, babbling — vacant — sottish — bewildered etc. 475.
blockish^†, unteachable Boeotian, Boeotic — bovine — ungifted, undiscerning^†, unenlightened, unwise, unphilosophical^† — apish — simious^†.
foolish, silly, senseless, irrational, insensate, nonsensical, inept — maudlin.
narrow-minded etc. 481 — bigoted etc. (obstinate) 606 — giddy etc. (thoughtless) 458 — rash etc. 863 — eccentric etc. (crazed) 503.
[Applied to actions] foolish, unwise, injudicious, improper, unreasonable, without reason, ridiculous, absurd, idiotic, silly, stupid, asinine — ill-imagined, ill-advised, ill-judged, ill-devised — mal entendu [Fr.] — inconsistent, irrational, unphilosophical^† — extravagant etc. (nonsensical) 497 — sleeveless, idle — pointless, useless etc. 645 — inexpedient etc. 647 — frivolous 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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