idiotic

UK/ˌɪdiˈɒtɪk/US/ˌɪdiˈɑtɪk/

adjectiveC1Very rare — outside the 30,000 commonest English words, so you will meet it in writing rather than in speech — idiot sits at #597mostly spoken

Idiotic means completely, maddeningly brainless. A decision nobody sensible would have made.

It is an insult and a fairly hot one, and it attaches to ideas, rules and behaviour more comfortably than to people. Like moron and imbecile, the noun idiot began as a medical classification, which is worth knowing even though idiot has drifted far enough from that history to be the mildest of the three now. Stupid and foolish are the plainer alternatives and daft is the affectionate British one.

Definitions of idiotic

1adjectiveidioticExtremely foolish or senseless.C1
“It was an idiotic thing to attempt in that weather.”

Also accepted in games: stupid, foolish

Where it comes from

Middle English
ydiote
English
idiot
English, today
idiotic

Built from

ἴδιος · Ancient Greek — one's own, pertaining to oneself, private

From idiot + -ic. idiot comes from Middle English ydiote. From Middle English idiote, ydiote, from Old French idiote (later idiot), from Latin idiota, from Ancient Greek ἰδιώτης (“a private citizen, one who has no professional knowledge, layman”), from ἴδιος (“one's own, pertaining to oneself, private”). a doublet of idiota. by surface analysis, idi- + -ot.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Man Called Ove

First appears in chapter 13 of A Man Called Ove.

Practise this word

idiotic in the wild

Originally designed as a somewhat gregarious, yet unintelligent teenager, Chris has become more awkward and idiotic over the course of the show.
Chris Griffin
Isaac and Miria are a pair of idiotic and eccentric lovers who dress up in costumes and commit strange robberies in Prohibition-era United States.
Isaac and Miria
Jia Zhijie stated that, "Insane, dull-witted and idiotic people must first complete sterilization operations before they can register for marriage.
Jia Zhijie
The story has the heroic struggle of a woman against her idiotic husband, vicious mother-in-law, superstitious neighbors and pervading poverty.
Gruhabhanga
However, he sees a larger scam in tricking a foppish and idiotic baronet, Sir Lofty Vainman, into marrying her.
Tunbridge Wells (play)

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

idiot

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