 4 definitions found
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
idiot
noun: a person of subnormal intelligence [syn: {imbecile}, {cretin},
{moron}, {changeling}, {half-wit}, {retard}]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Idiot \Id"i*ot\ ([i^]d"[i^]*[o^]t), noun [F. idiot, L. idiota an
uneducated, ignorant, ill-informed person, Gr. 'idiw'ths,
also and orig., a private person, not holding public office,
fr. 'i'dios proper, peculiar. See {Idiom}.]
1. A man in private station, as distinguished from one
holding a public office. [Obs.]
St. Austin affirmed that the plain places of
Scripture are sufficient to all laics, and all
idiots or private persons. --Jer. Taylor.
2. An unlearned, ignorant, or simple person, as distinguished
from the educated; an ignoramus. [Obs.]
Christ was received of idiots, of the vulgar people,
and of the simpler sort, while he was rejected,
despised, and persecuted even to death by the high
priests, lawyers, scribes, doctors, and rabbis. --C.
Blount.
3. A human being destitute of the ordinary intellectual
powers, whether congenital, developmental, or accidental;
commonly, a person without understanding from birth; a
natural fool. In a former classification of mentally
retarded people, idiot designated a person whose adult
level of intelligence was equivalent to that of a
three-year old or younger; this corresponded with an I.Q.
level of approximately 25 or less.
[1913 Webster +PJC]
Life . . . is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing. --Shak.
4. A fool; a simpleton; -- a term of reproach.
Weenest thou make an idiot of our dame? --Chaucer.
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
100 Moby Thesaurus words for "idiot":
alcoholic, aliene, alternating personality, ament,
antisocial personality, ass, bedlamite, borderline case, born fool,
clot, congenital idiot, crackbrain, crackpot, cretin, defective,
dement, demoniac, disordered personality, disturbed personality,
donkey, double personality, drug user, dual personality, dullard,
dullhead, dumbbell, dummkopf, dummy,
emotionally unstable personality, energumen, escapist, fanatic,
flake, fou, golem, half-wit, hostile personality, hypochondriac,
hypochondriast, ignoramus, imaginary invalid, imbecile,
immature personality, inadequate personality, inferior personality,
jackass, jerk, jester, juggins, kook, loon, loony, lunatic, madman,
malade imaginaire, maladjusted personality, maniac,
mentally defective personality, meshuggenah, mongoloid idiot,
moral insanity, moron, motley, multiple personality, natural,
natural idiot, natural-born fool, neuropath, neurotic,
neurotic personality, nincompoop, ninny, noncompos, nut,
paranoid personality, perverse personality, phrenetic,
psychoneurotic, psychopath, psychopathic personality, psychotic,
psychotic personality, raving lunatic, schizoid,
schizoid personality, screwball, seclusive personality,
sexual psychopath, shut-in personality, simp, simpleton, sociopath,
split personality, stupid, tomfool, valetudinarian, valetudinary,
weak personality, weirdo, zany
From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:
IDIOT, noun A member of a large and powerful tribe whose influence in
human affairs has always been dominant and controlling. The Idiot's
activity is not confined to any special field of thought or action,
but "pervades and regulates the whole." He has the last word in
everything; his decision is unappealable. He sets the fashions and
opinion of taste, dictates the limitations of speech and circumscribes
conduct with a dead-line.
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