dumb
adjEtymology
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.
Definitions
Unable to speak
Unable to speak; lacking power of speech.
- deaf, dumb, and blind
- His younger brother was born dumb, and communicated with sign language.
- to unloose the very tongues even of dumb creatures
Not talkative
Not talkative; taciturn or unwilling to speak.
Having no input or voice in running things.
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Unaccompanied by words or speech, silent, wordless.
- dumb show
- Since you are tongue-tied and so loath to speak In dumb significants proclaim your thoughts
- O let my books be then the eloquence And dumb presagers of my speaking breast […]
Not producing any sound, silent.
- […] Thro’ lands where not a leaf was dumb; But all the lavish hills would hum The murmur of a happy Pan: […]
Stupid.
- You are so dumb! You don't even know how to make toast!
Pointless, foolish, lacking intellectual content or value.
- 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.
Not equipped with intelligent behavior or processing capabilities of its own.
Lacking brightness or clearness as a colour
Lacking brightness or clearness as a colour; dim, dull.
- Her stern, which was painted of a dumb white or dun color.
To silence.
- […] what I would have spoke Was beastly dumbed by him.
- The paralysis of the Northern conscience, the dumbing of the Northern voice, were coming to an end.
To make stupid.
- I think she's dumbing us down, so we won't be smarter than her.
To represent as stupid.
- 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.
To reduce the intellectual demands of.
- 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.
Very, extremely.
- "What, you don't like your food?" Russo asks. ¶ "Are you kidding? It's dumb good."
An intensifier expressing contempt
An intensifier expressing contempt; damn, damned.
- 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."
Alternative form of D.U.M.B. (deep underground military base)
An acronym for remembering desirable characteristics for goal-setting
An acronym for remembering desirable characteristics for goal-setting: dream-driven, uplifting, method-driven, behavior-driven.
- Whatever your goals, starting with a DUMB goal gives a great outline and starting off point to start building your plan of action.
The neighborhood
Vish — recursive loop
No curated loop yet for dumb. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA