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Idiot
Definitions
- 1 Idiotic, stupid. uncommon
- 1 A person of low general intelligence. derogatory
"Only an idiot would fail this exam."
- 2 A proponent of intelligent design. derogatory, slang
"In his moronic book, _The Design Revolution: Answering the Toughest Questions about Intelligent Design_ (2004), 334pp., the IDiot William Dembski writes on page 305 about how a fellow IDiot was fired from a research position at a "prestigious molecular biology laboratory" the very same day a press story appeared exposing this character as being an IDiot."
- 3 a person of subnormal intelligence wordnet
- 4 A person who makes stupid decisions; a fool. derogatory
"He thought people who don't like cricket are idiots. He later got into fights with people who like football."
- 5 A person of the lowest intellectual standing, a person who lacks the capacity to develop beyond the mental age of a normal four-year-old; a person with an IQ below 30. obsolete
"Idiots were thought to be peculiarly under the care of the Deity, and it was believed that those who treated them kindly would be blessed."
Etymology
From Middle English idiote, ydiote, from Old French idiote (later idiot), from Latin idiota, from Ancient Greek ἰδιώτης (idiṓtēs, “a private citizen, one who has no professional knowledge, layman”), from ἴδιος (ídios, “one's own, pertaining to oneself, private”). Doublet of idiota. By surface analysis, idi- + -ot.
From Middle English idiote, ydiote, from Old French idiote (later idiot), from Latin idiota, from Ancient Greek ἰδιώτης (idiṓtēs, “a private citizen, one who has no professional knowledge, layman”), from ἴδιος (ídios, “one's own, pertaining to oneself, private”). Doublet of idiota. By surface analysis, idi- + -ot.
Blend of ID (“intelligent design”) + idiot.
See also for "idiot"
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