. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
you have here. The definition of the word
will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
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.
Adjective
dumb (comparative dumber, superlative dumbest)
- (dated) Unable to speak; lacking power of speech (kept in "deaf, dumb, and blind").
- Synonyms: mute, speechless, wordless
His younger brother was born dumb, and communicated with sign language.
1788, Mary Wollstonecraft, chapter 2, in Original Stories from Real Life (Children's literature), London: J. Johnson, published 1796, pages 10–11: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...
1992, “Opiate”, performed by Tool:Deaf and blind and dumb and born to follow / What you need is someone strong to guide you
- (archaic) Not talkative; taciturn or unwilling to speak.
- (dated) Having no input or voice in running things.
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: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.
- (dated, of things, actions, etc.) Unaccompanied by words or speech, silent, wordless.
dumb show
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 Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :Since you are tongue-tied and so loath to speak
In dumb significants proclaim your thoughts
- (dated) Not producing any sound, silent.
- (informal, derogatory, especially of a person) Stupid.
- Synonyms: feeble-minded, idiotic, moronic, stupid; see also Thesaurus:stupid
- Antonyms: intelligent, smart
You are so dumb! You don't even know how to make toast!
- (figuratively) Pointless, foolish, lacking intellectual content or value.
- Synonyms: banal, brainless, dopey, silly, stupid, ridiculous, vulgar
This is dumb! We're driving in circles! We should have asked for directions an hour ago!
Brendan had the dumb job of moving boxes from one conveyor belt to another.
- Lacking some functionality or property ordinarily characteristic of its kind.
- (of technology) Not equipped with intelligent behavior or processing capabilities of its own.
- Antonym: smart
- (obsolete, rare) Lacking brightness or clearness as a colour; dim, dull.
Derived terms
Translations
unable to speak
— see mute
extremely stupid
- Afrikaans: dom (af)
- Arabic: غَبِيّ (ḡabiyy)
- Egyptian Arabic: غشيم (ḡašīm), احمق (aḥmaʔ)
- Belarusian: дурны (durny)
- Bulgarian: тъп (bg) (tǎp)
- Catalan: estúpid (ca)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 蠢 (zh) (chǔn), 笨 (zh) (bèn)
- Czech: debilní (cs), blbý (cs)
- Danish: dum (da), åndssvag
- Dutch: dom (nl), stom (nl)
- Esperanto: stulta (eo)
- Estonian: loll (et)
- Finnish: typerä (fi), idioottimainen (fi)
- French: stupide (fr), débile (fr), idiot (fr), niais (fr), bête (fr)
- German: dumm (de), idiotisch (de)
- Greek: χαζός (el) (chazós)
- Ancient: μωρός (mōrós)
- Hungarian: ostoba (hu), hülye (hu)
- Indonesian: dungu (id)
- Italian: stupido (it)
- Japanese: 愚かな (ja) (おろかな, oroka na), ばかな (ja) (ばかな, baka na)
- Javanese: pekok (jv), goblog (jv)
- Kurdish:
- Central Kurdish: بێعەقڵ (bê'eqill)
- Northern Kurdish: bêmêjî (ku), bêaqil (ku)
- Latin: stupidus, stultus (la), blennus
- Lithuanian: (slang, barbarism) durnas, kvailas
- Low German: dumm (nds)
- Ottoman Turkish: بوك (böñ)
- Persian: کودن (fa) (kowdan), خنگ (fa) (xeng), دبنگ (fa) (dabang)
- Plautdietsch: frekjt
- Polish: durny (pl), tępy (pl), pustogłowy (pl), bezmyślny (pl), idiotyczny (pl), debilny
- Portuguese: burro (pt), idiota (pt)
- Russian: тупо́й (ru) (tupój), глу́пый (ru) (glúpyj), дурно́й (ru) (durnój)
- Sanskrit: अज्ञान (sa) (ajñāna), मूर (sa) (mūra), मूर्ख (sa) (mūrkha), जल (sa) (jala), मूढ (sa) (mūḍha), निर्बुद्धि (sa) (nirbud'dhi)
- Spanish: estúpido (es), tonto (es)
- Sundanese: belegug
- Swedish: korkad (sv), dum (sv)
- Turkish: aptal (tr)
- Walloon: loigne (wa), boubiet (wa), wargnasse (wa)
- Zazaki: xint c
|
pointless or unintellectual
Translations to be checked
Etymology 2
From Middle English dumben, from Old English dumbian (more commonly in compound ādumbian (“to become mute or dumb; keep silence; hold one’s peace”)), from Proto-Germanic *dumbijaną, *dumbōną (“to be silent, become dumb”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewbʰ- (“to whisk, smoke, darken, obscure”). Cognate with German verdummen (“to become dumb”).
Verb
dumb (third-person singular simple present dumbs, present participle dumbing, simple past and past participle dumbed)
- (transitive, dated) To silence.
c. 1606–1607, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :[…] what I would have spoke
Was beastly dumbed by him.
1911, Lindsay Swift, William Lloyd Garrison, page 272:The paralysis of the Northern conscience, the dumbing of the Northern voice, were coming to an end.
- (transitive) To make stupid.
2003, Angela Calabrese Barton, Teaching Science for Social Justice, page 124:I think she's dumbing us down, so we won't be smarter than her.
- (transitive) To represent as stupid.
2004, Stephen Oppenheimer, The Real Eve: Modern Man's Journey Out of Africa, page 107:Bad-mouthing Neanderthals […] is symptomatic of a need to exclude and even demonize. […] I suggest that the unproven dumbing of the Neanderthals is an example of the same cultural preconception.
- (transitive) To reduce the intellectual demands of.
2002, Deborah Meier, In Schools We Trust: Creating Communities of Learning in an Era of Testing, page 126:The ensuing storm caused the department to lower the bar—amid protests that this was dumbing the test down—so that only 80 percent of urban kids would fail.
Derived terms
Terms derived from the adjective or verb "dumb"
Etymology 3
A minced oath of damn.
Adverb
dumb (not comparable)
- (African-American Vernacular) Very, extremely.
- Synonyms: type, mad, hella, wicked, (NYC) odee, (MLE, MTE) bare
2019, Natisha Raynor, She Made a Savage Change His Ways 2, Atlanta, G.A.: Royalty Publishing House, →ISBN, page 4:Yo this shit is crazy how these females are making these doctors rich. My baby moms Miracle is getting surgery in a week or so. She's flying out to Colombia. That shit really baffles me as far as she's concerned, because Miracle is already dumb thick. I'm like damn ma, how big do you want your ass to be?
Derived terms
Adjective
dumb (comparative more dumb, superlative most dumb)
- (African-American Vernacular, dated) An intensifier expressing contempt; damn, damned.
2002, Glenna Whiteaker Wilding, Tales of a Ridgerunner: The Adventures of a Young Family Growing Up in the East Tennessee Mountains, 1890s - 1920s, Prospect, K.Y.: Harmony House Publishers, →ISBN, page 95:Pap came to stand beside her and watched the two play. "That pup has just plum' fell in love with our Sammy, an' Sam's real took by him," Pap said. "It's a dumb shame, too. I talked to Jim, but he's not of a mind to sell."
References
Middle English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Old English dumb.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈdum(b)/, /ˈduːm(b)/
Adjective
dumb (plural and weak singular dumbe)
- Lacking or failing to display the faculty of voice:
- Unspeaking; unable to speak or having muteness.
- (substantive) A mute; one who can't speak.
- Temporarily unable to speak due to strong emotions.
- Unwilling or reluctant to speak; not speaking.
- Powerless, ineffectual (either inherently or due to events)
- Unknowledgeable; having no understanding or sense.
- (of animals) Unwilling or unable to make a noise; quiet or silent.
- (rare) Unrevealing, useless; having no important messages or lessons.
- (rare) Having nothing to keep one busy or engaged.
- (rare, figurative) Refusing to preach or evangelise.
- (rare, figurative) Refusing to be conceited or vainglorious.
Derived terms
Descendants
References
Old English
Etymology
From Proto-West Germanic *dumb.
Pronunciation
Adjective
dumb
- mute, dumb (unable to speak)
- (substantive) a mute
- c. 990, Wessex Gospels, Luke 11:14
Þā hē ūt ādrāf þā dēofolsēocnesse, þā spræc se dumba.- When he drove out the demon, the mute person spoke.
Declension
Declension of dumb — Strong
Declension of dumb — Weak
Related terms
Descendants