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🇩🇪German Source WordCode: DE

Idiot

Pronunciation / Transliteration: idiot

🇬🇧 Direct English Meaning:
Idiot/ˈɪd.i.ət/
nounCEFR B2 (Upper)Top #4500 frequency
Full Thesaurus
🇩🇪 Example Sentence in German:

"Er fühlte sich wie ein Idiot, weil er seinen besten Freund vergessen hatte."

Comprehensive Definitions & Senses

2 senses
As noun
  1. 1

    A person of low intelligence or someone who acts in a foolish or senseless manner.

    "He felt like an idiot for forgetting his best friend's birthday."
  2. 2

    A term used informally to describe someone who is perceived as foolish or incompetent.

    "Don't be such an idiot; think before you speak!"
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Thesaurus & Semantic Spectrum

Synonyms (3)
Antonyms & Contrasting Words (1)

Linguistic Origin & Historical Etymology

Derived from the Late Latin idiōtā, from the Ancient Greek idiōtēs meaning 'private person, layperson, unskilled person', stemming from idios 'one's own'. In early English usage, it referred to a person lacking professional skills or a person of low intelligence, before shifting to its modern general meaning of a foolish person.

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