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Dumb
Definitions
- 1 Unable to speak; lacking power of speech. dated
"deaf, dumb, and blind"
- 2 An intensifier expressing contempt; damn, damned. dated
"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.""
- 3 An acronym for remembering desirable characteristics for goal-setting: dream-driven, uplifting, method-driven, behavior-driven. mnemonic, not-comparable
"Whatever your goals, starting with a DUMB goal gives a great outline and starting off point to start building your plan of action."
- 4 Not talkative; taciturn or unwilling to speak. archaic
- 5 Having no input or voice in running things. dated
"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."
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- 6 Unaccompanied by words or speech, silent, wordless. dated, usually
"dumb show"
- 7 Not producing any sound, silent. dated
"[…] Thro’ lands where not a leaf was dumb; But all the lavish hills would hum The murmur of a happy Pan: […]"
- 8 Stupid. derogatory, especially, informal
"You are so dumb! You don't even know how to make toast!"
- 9 Pointless, foolish, lacking intellectual content or value. figuratively
"This is dumb! We're driving in circles! We should have asked for directions an hour ago!"
- 10 Lacking some functionality or property ordinarily characteristic of its kind.
- 11 Not equipped with intelligent behavior or processing capabilities of its own.
- 12 Lacking brightness or clearness as a colour; dim, dull. obsolete, rare
"Her stern, which was painted of a dumb white or dun color."
- 1 unable to speak because of hereditary deafness wordnet
- 2 lacking the power of human speech wordnet
- 3 temporarily incapable of speaking wordnet
- 4 slow to learn or understand; lacking intellectual acuity wordnet
- 1 Very, extremely. not-comparable
""What, you don't like your food?" Russo asks. ¶ "Are you kidding? It's dumb good.""
- 1 Alternative form of D.U.M.B. (deep underground military base) alt-of, alternative
- 1 To silence. dated, transitive
"[…] what I would have spoke Was beastly dumbed by him."
- 2 To make stupid. transitive
"I think she's dumbing us down, so we won't be smarter than her."
- 3 To represent as stupid. transitive
"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."
- 4 To reduce the intellectual demands of. transitive
"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."
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.
From Middle English dumben, from Old English *dumbian (found in the 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”).
A minced oath of damn.
A minced oath of damn.
See also for "dumb"
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