imbecility

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: im=be=cil=i=ty

CIDE DICTIONARY

imbecility, n. [L. imbecillitas: cf. F. imbécillité.].

 The quality of being imbecile; weakness; feebleness, esp. of mind.  [1913 Webster]
" This term is used specifically to denote natural weakness of the mental faculties, affecting one's power to act reasonably or intelligently."
"Cruelty . . . argues not only a depravedness of nature, but also a meanness of courage and imbecility of mind."  [1913 Webster]

Syn. -- Debility; infirmity; weakness; feebleness; impotence. See Debility.

DEVIL DICTIONARY

imbecility

n. A kind of divine inspiration, or sacred fire affecting censorious critics of this dictionary.

THESAURUS

imbecility

amentia, arrested development, asininity, backwardness, battiness, blithering idiocy, brainlessness, buffoonery, clownishness, crackpottedness, crankiness, craziness, cretinism, daffiness, desipience, disability, disablement, disqualification, eccentricity, fatuity, fatuousness, folly, foolery, foolheadedness, foolishness, frivolity, frivolousness, giddiness, goofiness, half-wittedness, idiocy, idiotism, inability, inadequacy, inanity, incapability, incapacitation, incapacity, incompetence, incompetency, inefficiency, ineptitude, infancy, infantilism, inferiority, insanity, insufficiency, legal incapacity, lunacy, madness, mental defectiveness, mental deficiency, mental handicap, mental retardation, mindlessness, minority, mongolianism, mongolism, mongoloid idiocy, moronism, moronity, niaiserie, nugacity, nuttiness, profound idiocy, queerness, retardation, retardment, sappiness, screwiness, senselessness, silliness, simple-wittedness, simplemindedness, simpleness, simplicity, stupidity, subnormality, thoughtlessness, triflingness, triviality, unfitness, wackiness, wardship, weirdness, witlessness, zaniness, zanyism

ROGET THESAURUS

imbecility

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.

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.