Imbecility
Imbecility
#499. Imbecility. Folly. -- N. want of -intelligence &c. 498, want of -
intellect &c. 450; shadowness[obs], silliness, foolishness &c. adj.;
imbecility, incapacity, vacancy of mind, poverty of intellect, weakness of
intellect, clouded perception, poor head, apartments to let; stupidity,
stolidity; hebetude[obs], dull understanding, meanest capacity,
shortsightedness; incompetence &c. (unskillfulness) 699.
- one's weak side, not one's strong point; bias &c. 481; infatuation &c.
(insanity) 503.
- simplicity, puerility, babyhood; dotage, anility[obs], second
childishness, fatuity; idiocy, idiotism[obs]; driveling.
- folly, frivolity, irrationality, trifling, ineptitude, nugacity[obs],
inconsistency, lip wisdom, conceit; sophistry &c. 477; giddiness &c
(inattention) 458; eccentricity &c. 503; extravagance &c. (absurdity) 497;
rashness &c. 863.
- act of folly &c. 699.
- b. be - imbecile &c. adj.; have no -brains, have no sense &c. 498.
- trifle, drivel, radoter[obs], dote; ramble &c. (madness) 503; play the
fool, play the monkey, monkey around, fool around; take leave of one's
senses (insanity) 503; not see an inch beyond one's nose; stultify oneself
&c. 699; talk nonsense &c. 497.
- Adj. unintelligent[Applied to persons], unintellectual, unreasoning;
mindless, witless, reasoningless[obs], brainless; halfbaked; having no
head &c. 498; not -bright &c. 498; inapprehensible[obs].
- weak headed, addle headed, puzzle headed, blunder headed, muddle
headed, muddy headed, pig headed, beetle headed, buffle headed[obs],
chuckle headed, mutton headed, maggoty headed, grossheaded[obs]; 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[obs], clod-pated[obs], addle-
pated[obs]; 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[obs], obtuse, blunt, stolid, doltish;
asinine; inapt &c. 699; prosaic &c. 843; hebetudinous[obs].
- childish, child-like; infantine[obs], infantile, babyish,
babish[obs]; puerile, anile; simple &c. (credulous) 486; old-womanish.
- fatuous, idiotic, imbecile, driveling; blatant, babbling; vacant;
sottish; bewildered &c.475.
- blockish[obs], unteachable Boeotian, Boeotic; bovine; ungifted,
undiscerning[obs], unenlightened, unwise, unphilosophical[obs]; apish;
simious[obs].
- foolish, silly, senseless, irrational, insensate, nonsensical, inept;
maudlin.
- narrow-minded &c. 481; bigoted &c. (obstinate) 606; giddy &c.
(thoughtless) 458; rash &c. 863; eccentric &c. (crazed) 503.
- [Applied to actions] foolish, unwise, injudicious, improper,
unreasonable, without reason, ridiculous, absurd, idiotic, silly, stupid,
asinine; ill-imagined, ill-advised, ill-judged, ill-devised; mal
entendu[Fr]; inconsistent, irrational, unphilosophical[obs]; extravagant
&c. (nonsensical) 497; sleeveless, idle; pointless, useless &c. 645;
inexpedient &c. 647; frivolous &c. (trivial) 643.
- Phr. Davus sum non [Lat][Oedipus]; "a fool's bolt is soon shot"
clitellae bovi sunt impositae [obs][Henry V.][Lat][Cicero]; "fools rush
in where angels fear to tread" [Pope]; il n' a ni bouche ni eperon [Fr];
"the bookful blockhead, ignorantly read" [Pope]; "to varnish nonsense with
the charms of sound" [Churchill].