ROGET'S THESAURUS OF ENGLISH WORDS AND PHRASES ...

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; rattlebrained,
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, illjudged,
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].