intellect &c 450; shadowness†, 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†, 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†, second
childishness, fatuity; idiocy, idiotism†; driveling.
folly, frivolity, irrationality, trifling, ineptitude, nugacity†,
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.
V. to be an imbecile &c adj.; have no brains, have no sense &c 498.
trifle, drivel, radoter†, 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†, brainless; halfbaked; having no head
&c 498; not bright &c 498; 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 &c 699; prosaic &c 843; hebetudinous†.
childish, child-like; infantine†, infantile, babyish, babish†;
puerile, anile; simple &c (credulous) 486; old-womanish.
fatuous, idiotic, imbecile, driveling; blatant, babbling; vacant;
sottish; bewildered &c 475.
blockish†, unteachable Boeotian, Boeotic; bovine; ungifted,
undiscerning†, unenlightened, unwise, unphilosophical†; apish; simious†.
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†;
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 [Henry
V.] clitellae bovi sunt impositae [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].