imbecile

• POS: Adjective, Noun
• HYPHEN: im=be=cile

CIDE DICTIONARY

imbecile, a. [L. imbecillis, and imbecillus; of unknown origin: cf. F. imbécile.].

 Destitute of strength, whether of body or mind; feeble; impotent; esp., mentally wea; feeble-minded; as, hospitals for the imbecile and insane.

Syn. -- Weak; feeble; feeble-minded; idiotic.

imbecile, n. 

•  One destitute of strength; esp., one of feeble mind; -- sometimes used as a pejorative term.  [1913 Webster]
•  A person with a degree of mental retardation between that of an idiot and a moron; in a former classification of mentally retarded person, it applied to a person with an adult mental age of from four to eith years, and an I.Q. of from 26 to 50.  [PJC]

imbecile, v. t. 

 To weaken; to make imbecile; as, to imbecile men's courage.  Jer. Taylor.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

imbecile, n. & adj.
--n.
1 a person of abnormally weak intellect, esp. an adult with a mental age of about five.
2 colloq. a stupid person.
--adj. mentally weak; stupid, idiotic.

Derivative

imbecilely adv. imbecilic adj. imbecility n. (pl. -ies).

Etymology

F imb{eacute}cil(l)e f. L imbecillus (as IN-(1), baculum stick) orig. in sense 'without supporting staff'

THESAURUS

imbecile

ament, amputee, anemic, apish, arrested, asinine, ass, asthenic, babbling, backward, batty, befooled, beguiled, besotted, blithering, bloodless, born fool, brainless, buffoonish, burbling, chicken, clot, cockeyed, congenital idiot, cowardly, crackbrained, cracked, crazy, credulous, cretin, cretinistic, cretinous, cripple, daffy, daft, dazed, debilitated, defective, deformity, dim-witted, dithering, dizzy, donkey, doting, driveling, drooling, drooping, droopy, dull, dumb, effete, etiolated, faint, faintish, fatuitous, fatuous, feeble, feebleminded, flabby, flaccid, flaky, floppy, fond, fool, foolheaded, foolish, fuddled, futile, gaga, golem, gone, goofy, gulled, gutless, half-baked, half-wit, half-witted, handicapped person, idiot, idiotic, imbecilic, impotent, inane, incapable, inept, infatuated, insane, jackass, jerk, juggins, kooky, languid, languorous, limber, limp, listless, loony, lustless, mad, marrowless, maudlin, maundering, mentally defective, mentally deficient, mentally handicapped, mentally retarded, mongoloid, mongoloid idiot, moron, moronic, natural, natural idiot, natural-born fool, nerveless, nincompoop, ninny, not all there, nutty, paralytic, paraplegic, pithless, pooped, powerless, quadriplegic, retarded, rubbery, sapless, sappy, screwy, senseless, sentimental, silly, simp, simple, simpleminded, simpleton, simpletonian, sinewless, slack, slobbering, slow, slow-witted, soft, spineless, strengthless, stupid, subnormal, the crippled, the handicapped, thoughtless, tomfool, unhardened, unnerved, unstrung, wacky, weak, weakly, wet, witless, zany

ROGET THESAURUS

imbecile

Impotence

N impotence, inability, disability, disablement, impuissance, imbecility, incapacity, incapability, inaptitude, ineptitude, incompetence, unproductivity, indocility, invalidity, disqualification, inefficiency, wastefulness, telum imbelle, brutum fulmen, blank, blank cartridge, flash in the pan, vox et proeterea nihil, dead letter, bit of waste paper, dummy, paper tiger, Quaker gun, inefficacy, failure, helplessness, prostration, paralysis, palsy, apoplexy, syncope, sideration, deliquium, collapse, exhaustion, softening of the brain, inanition, emasculation, orchiotomy, orchotomy, cripple, old woman, muff, powder puff, creampuff, pussycat, wimp, mollycoddle, eunuch, powerless, impotent, unable, incapable, incompetent, inefficient, ineffective, inept, unfit, unfitted, unqualified, disqualified, unendowed, inapt, unapt, crippled, disabled, armless, harmless, unarmed, weaponless, defenseless, sine ictu, unfortified, indefensible, vincible, pregnable, untenable, paralytic, paralyzed, palsied, imbecile, nerveless, sinewless, marrowless, pithless, lustless, emasculate, disjointed, out of joint, out of gear, unnerved, unhinged, water-logged, on one's beam ends, rudderless, laid on one's back, done up, dead beat, exhausted, shattered, demoralized, graveled, helpless, unfriended, fatherless, without a leg to stand on, hors de combat, laid on the shelf, null and void, nugatory, inoperative, good for nothing, ineffectual, inadequate, inefficacious, der kranke Mann, desirous still but impotent to rise, the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.

Absence or want of Intellect

N absence of Intellect, want of intellect, imbecility brutality, brute force, instinct, brute instinct, stimulus-response loop, conditioned response, instinctive reaction, Pavlovian response, mimicry, aping (imitation), moron, imbecile, idiot, fool, dumb animal, vegetable, brain dead, Adj, unendowed with reason, void of reason, thoughtless, vegetative, moronic, idiotic, brainless, Adv, instinctively, like Pavlov's dog, vegetatively, unendowed with reason, void of reason, thoughtless, vegetative, moronic, idiotic, brainless, instinctively, like Pavlov's dog, vegetatively, V, mimic, ape (imitate), respond instinctively.

Ignoramus

N ignoramus, dunce, wooden spoon, no scholar, (imbecility) 499 (folly) 501 moron, imbecile, idiot, fool, jerk, nincompoop, asshole, dilettante, sciolist, smatterer, dabbler, half scholar, charlatan, wiseacre, greenhorn, amateur, novice, tyro, numskull, lubber, fool, pedant, bookless, shallow, ignorant, a wit with dunces and a dunce with wits.

Folly

N imbecility folly, want of intelligence &c, want of intellect, shadowness, silliness, foolishness, imbecility, incapacity, vacancy of mind, poverty of intellect, weakness of intellect, clouded perception, poor head, apartments to let, stupidity, stolidity, hebetude, dull understanding, meanest capacity, shortsightedness, incompetence, one's weak side, not one's strong point, bias, infatuation, simplicity, puerility, babyhood, dotage, anility, second childishness, fatuity, idiocy, idiotism, driveling, folly, frivolity, irrationality, trifling, ineptitude, nugacity, inconsistency, lip wisdom, conceit, sophistry, giddiness, eccentricity, extravagance, rashness, act of folly, unintelligent, unintellectual, unreasoning, mindless, witless, reasoningless, brainless, halfbaked, having no head, not bright, inapprehensible, weak headed, addle headed, puzzle headed, blunder headed, muddle headed, muddy headed, pig headed, beetle headed, buffle headed, chuckle headed, mutton headed, maggoty headed, grossheaded, beef headed, fat witted, fat-headed, weak-minded, feeble-minded, dull minded, shallow minded, lack- brained, rattle-brained, rattle headed, half witted, lean witted, short witted, dull witted, blunt-witted, shallow-pated, clod-pated, addle- pated, addle-brained, dim-sighted, short-sighted, thick-skulled, weak in the upper story, shallow, borne, weak, wanting, soft, sappy, spoony, dull, dull as a beetle, stupid, heavy, insulse, obtuse, blunt, stolid, doltish, asinine, inapt, prosaic, hebetudinous, childish, child-like, infantine, infantile, babyish, babish, puerile, anile, simple, old-womanish, fatuous, idiotic, imbecile, driveling, blatant, babbling, vacant, sottish, bewildered, blockish, unteachable Boeotian, Boeotic, bovine, ungifted, undiscerning, unenlightened, unwise, unphilosophical, apish, simious, foolish, silly, senseless, irrational, insensate, nonsensical, inept, maudlin, narrow-minded, bigoted, giddy, rash, eccentric, foolish, unwise, injudicious, improper, unreasonable, without reason, ridiculous, absurd, idiotic, silly, stupid, asinine, ill-imagined, ill-advised, ill-judged, ill-devised, mal entendu, inconsistent, irrational, unphilosophical, extravagant, sleeveless, idle, pointless, useless, inexpedient, frivolous, Davus sum non, a fool's bolt is soon shot clitellae bovi sunt im, fools rush in where angels fear to tread, il n' a ni bouche ni eperon, the bookful blockhead, ignorantly read, to varnish nonsense with the charms of sound.

Fool

N fool, idiot, tomfool, wiseacre, simpleton, witling, dizzard, donkey, ass, ninny, ninnyhammer, chowderhead, chucklehead, dolt, booby, Tom Noddy, looby, hoddy-doddy, noddy, nonny, noodle, nizy, owl, goose, goosecap, imbecile, gaby, radoteur, nincompoop, badaud, zany, trifler, babbler, pretty fellow, natural, niais, child, baby, infant, innocent, milksop, sop, oaf, lout, loon, lown, dullard, doodle, calf, colt, buzzard, block, put, stick, stock, numps, tony, bull head, dunderhead, addlehead, blockhead, dullhead, loggerhead, jolthead, jolterhead, beetlehead, beetlebrain, grosshead, muttonhead, noodlehead, giddyhead, numbskull, thickskull, lackbrain, shallowbrain, dimwit, halfwit, lackwit, dunderpate, lunkhead sawney, gowk, clod, clod-hopper, clod-poll, clot-poll, clot-pate, bull calf, gawk, Gothamite, lummox, rube, men of Boeotia, wise men of Gotham, un sot a triple etage, sot, jobbernowl, changeling, mooncalf, gobemouche, dotard, driveler, old fogey, old woman, crock, crone, grandmother, cotquean, henhussy, incompetent (insanity), greenhorn, dunce, lubber, madman, one who will not set the Thames on fire, one who did not invent gunpowder, qui n'a pas invente' la poudre, no conjuror, fortuna favet fatuis, les fous font les festinas et les sages les mangen, nomina stultorum parietibus harrent, stultorum plena sunt omnia.

Insanity

N insanity, disordered reason, disordered intellect, diseased mind, unsound mind, abnormal mind, derangement, unsoundness, psychosis, neurosis, cognitive disorder, affective disorder, insanity, lunacy, madness, mania, rabies, furor, mental alienation, aberration, paranoia, schizophrenia, dementation, dementia, demency, phrenitis, phrensy, frenzy, raving, incoherence, wandering, delirium, calenture of the brain, delusion, hallucination, lycanthropy, brain storm, vertigo, dizziness, swimming, sunstroke, coup de soleil, siriasis, fanaticism, infatuation, craze, oddity, eccentricity, twist, monomania (caprice), kleptodipsomania, hypochondriasis, melancholia, depression, clinical depression, severe depression, hysteria, amentia, screw loose, tile loose, slate loose, bee in one's bonnet, rats in the upper story, dotage, insane, mad, lunatic, loony, crazy, crazed, aliene, non compos mentis, not right, cracked, touched, bereft of reason, all possessed, unhinged, unsettled in one's mind, insensate, reasonless, beside oneself, demented, daft, phrenzied, frenzied, frenetic, possessed, possessed with a devil, deranged, maddened, moonstruck, shatterpated, mad-brained, scatter brained, shatter brained, crackbrained, touched, tetched, off one's head, maniacal, delirious, lightheaded, incoherent, rambling, doting, wandering, frantic, raving, stark staring mad, stark raving mad, wild-eyed, berserk, delusional, hallucinatory, corybantic, dithyrambic, rabid, giddy, vertiginous, wild, haggard, mazed, flighty, distracted, distraught, depressed, agitated, hyped up, bewildered, mad as a March hare, mad as a hatter, of unsound mind, touched in one's head, wrong in one's head, not right in one's head, not in one's right mind, not right in one's wits, upper story, out of one's mind, out of one's wits, out of one's skull, far gone, out of one's senses, out of one's wits, not in one's right mind, fanatical, infatuated, odd, eccentric, hypped, hyppish, spaced out, imbecile, silly, like one possessed, the mind having lost its balance, the reason under a cloud, tet exaltee, tet montee, ira furor brevis est, omnes stultos insanire.