What does "nimrod" mean?
A foolish person; an idiot.
Nimrod
/ˈnɪmrɒd/ name, noun, slang
name, noun, slang ·Moderate ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A foolish person; an idiot.
- Grammar: nimrod is listed as name, noun, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: archer, artilleryman, beater, biblical figure.
- Useful contrasts: competent person, expert, genius.
- Usage evidence: When my dad found out that I've been going out with Nimrod Nick, he blew his top.
How to use "nimrod"
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- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "nimrod" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
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- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "nimrod" in a final draft.
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Before you rely on this definition
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Compare nearby meanings
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Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
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Final meaning check
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Definitions
Noun
- 1 A foolish person; an idiot. US, derogatory, informal
"Don't stick your fingers in the fan, you nimrod!"
- 2 Any great hunter.
"Old Ekdal, whom Gregers remembers as Lieutenant Ekdal, his father's partner in the timber business up north and a mighty Nimrod, has, after a term of imprisonment for illicit tree-felling, become a shambling old drunkard, who solaces himself by sporting expeditions in the lean-to attic which his son and he have fitted up for the purpose with withered Christmas trees and a little menagerie of hens, rabbits and the like."
- 3 Alternative letter-case form of nimrod (“fool; idiot”). alt-of
Proper Noun
- 1 A grandson of Ham; a mighty hunter and king of Shinar.
"Blake's depiction of the biblical Nimrod, whom Erdman traces to Young's poem, recalls Milton's Paradise Lost."
- 2 A British biplane fighter aircraft manufactured by Hawker Aircraft in the early 1930s.
- 3 A British maritime patrol aircraft manufactured by Hawker Siddeley, in use from 1969 until 2011.
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
"When my dad found out that I've been going out with Nimrod Nick, he blew his top."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "nimrod"?
Common synonyms include: archer, artilleryman, beater, biblical figure, big game hunter, bowman.
How do you use "nimrod" in a sentence?
When my dad found out that I've been going out with Nimrod Nick, he blew his top.
How do you pronounce "nimrod"?
Pronounced /ˈnɪmrɒd/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
In most English-speaking countries, Nimrod is used to denote a hunter or warrior, because the biblical Nimrod is described as "a mighty hunter". In American English, however, the term has acquired a derogatory meaning of "idiot"; there are various hypotheses as to why. Most examples suggest an intermediate form where Nimrod is used deliberately to mock a hunter. Whether this usage was widespread, or how it influenced the final meaning where the hunter connotation is unintended, might be beyond reach. Possible reasons for the shift from "hunter" to "idiot": One suggestion is that Bugs Bunny's references to Elmer Fudd as a "poor little Nimrod", while most likely using the term's "hunter" sense, contributed to the development of a sense "one who is easily confounded". An alternative explanation of this sense is that it derives from the John Steinbeck memoir Travels with Charley: In Search of America, in which Steinbeck used the term sarcastically while describing an inquest that was held after a hunter accidentally shot his partner: "The coroner questioning this nimrod..." The Oxford English Dictionary, in turn, cites a 1933 writing as the first usage of nimrod to refer to a fool, predating Bugs Bunny by at least five years and Steinbeck by nearly thirty: in Hecht and Fowler's Great Magoo, someone remarks "He's in love with her. That makes about the tenth. The same old Nimrod. Won't let her alone for a second." However, this could still have been used in the sense of a hunter (i.e. someone pursuing a love interest). The Merriam-Webster Dictionary suggests that because the legendary Nimrod was associated with the Tower of Babel, a disastrous idea, nimrod acquired the meaning of "a stupid person." Another possible source of the sense is the play The Lion of the West by James Paulding. First performed in 1831, it features a comedic characterization of Davy Crockett named Col. Nimrod Wildfire who attempts to woo a young French woman. Another possibility is that there was an unattested dialectal or slang term for an idiot similar to Australian English ning nong, and that it became conflated with the more respectable term, perhaps as a euphemism.
Etymology 2
From Hebrew נִמְרוֹד (Nimród).