Adjective

dumb (comparative dumber, superlative dumbest)Category:English lemmas#DUMBCategory:English adjectives#DUMBCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#DUMBCategory:Pages with entries#DUMBCategory:Pages with 3 entries#DUMB

1. (datedCategory:English dated terms#DUMB) Unable to speak; lacking power of speech.

   Synonyms: mute, speechless, wordless

   deaf, dumb, and blind (set phrase)Category:English terms with collocations#DUMB

   His younger brother was born dumb, and communicated with sign language.Category:English terms with usage examples#DUMB

   • [1594], Richard Hooker, edited by J[ohn] S[penser], Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Iohn Windet, […], →OCLC, (please specify the page):

     to unloose the very tongues even of dumb creatures

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   • 1788, Mary Wollstonecraft, chapter 2, in Original Stories from Real Life (Children's literature), London: J. Johnson, published 1796, pages 10–11:

     The country people frequently ſay,—How can you treat a poor dumb beaſt ill; and a ſtreſs is very properly laid on the word dumb; for dumb they appear to thoſe who do not obſerve their looks and geſtures; but God, who takes care of every thing, underſtands their language...

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   • 1884 January 5, “Mighty maiden with a mission”, in W. S. Gilbert (lyrics), Arthur Sullivan (music), Princess Ida‎, performed by D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, London, page 48:

     We are dumb and we would talk

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   • a. 1905, anonymous translator, The Adventures of a Special Correspondent Among the Various Races and Countries of Central Asia‎, translation of Claudius Bombarnac by Jules Verne:

     It is true, there is Turkish of which I had picked up a few phrases, and there is Chinese of which I did not understand a single word. But I had no fear of remaining dumb in Turkestan and the Celestial Empire.

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   • 1992, “Opiate”, performed by Tool:

     Deaf and blind and dumb and born to follow / What you need is someone strong to guide you

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2. (archaicCategory:English terms with archaic senses#DUMB) Not talkative; taciturn or unwilling to speak.
3. (datedCategory:English dated terms#DUMB) Having no input or voice in running things.
   • 1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, “Democracy”, in Past and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and James Brown, published 1843, →OCLC, book III (The Modern Worker), page 210:

     Life was never a May-game for men; in all times the lot of the dumb-millions born to toil was defaced with manifold sufferings, injustices, heavy burdens, avoidable and unavoidable; not play at all, but hard work that made the sinews sore, and the heart sore.

     Category:English terms with quotations#DUMB

4. (datedCategory:English dated terms#DUMB, of things, actions, etc.) Unaccompanied by words or speech, silent, wordless.

   dumb showCategory:English terms with usage examples#DUMB

   • 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iv]:

     Since you are tongue-tied and so loath to speak
     In dumb significants proclaim your thoughts

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   • 1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 23”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC:

     O let my books be then the eloquence
     And dumb presagers of my speaking breast […]

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   • 1881, John Campbell Shairp, Aspects of Poetry:

     to pierce into the dumb past

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5. (datedCategory:English dated terms#DUMB) Not producing any sound, silent.
   • 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XXIII”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 39:

     […] Thro’ lands where not a leaf was dumb;
     ⁠But all the lavish hills would hum
     The murmur of a happy Pan: […]

     Category:English terms with quotations#DUMB

6. (informalCategory:English informal terms#DUMB, derogatoryCategory:English derogatory terms#DUMB, especially of a person) Stupid.

   Synonyms: feeble-minded, idiotic, moronic, stupid; see also Thesaurus:stupid

   Antonyms: intelligent, smart

   You are so dumb! You don't even know how to make toast!Category:English terms with usage examples#DUMB

7. (figuratively) Pointless, foolish, lacking intellectual content or value.

   Synonyms: banal, brainless, dopey, silly, stupid, ridiculous, vulgar

   This is dumb! We're driving in circles! We should have asked for directions an hour ago!Category:English terms with usage examples#DUMB

   Brendan had the dumb job of moving boxes from one conveyor belt to another.Category:English terms with usage examples#DUMB

8. Lacking some functionality or property ordinarily characteristic of its kind.
10. (of technologyCategory:en:Technology#DUMB) Not equipped with intelligent behavior or processing capabilities of its own.

    Antonym: smart

11. (obsoleteCategory:English terms with obsolete senses#DUMB, rareCategory:English terms with rare senses#DUMB) Lacking brightness or clearness as a colour; dim, dull.
    • 1720, Daniel Defoe, The Life, Adventures and Piracies of the Famous Captain Singleton:

      Her stern, which was painted of a dumb white or dun color.

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Verb

dumb (third-person singular simple present dumbs, present participle dumbing, simple past and past participle dumbed)Category:English lemmas#DUMBCategory:English verbs#DUMBCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#DUMBCategory:Pages with entries#DUMBCategory:Pages with 3 entries#DUMB

1. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#DUMB, datedCategory:English dated terms#DUMB) To silence.
   • c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene v]:

     […] what I would have spoke
     Was beastly dumbed by him.

     Category:English terms with quotations#DUMB

   • 1911, Lindsay Swift, William Lloyd Garrison, page 272:

     The paralysis of the Northern conscience, the dumbing of the Northern voice, were coming to an end.

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2. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#DUMB) To make stupid.
   • 2003, Angela Calabrese Barton, Teaching Science for Social Justice, page 124:

     I think she's dumbing us down, so we won't be smarter than her.

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3. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#DUMB) To represent as stupid.
   • 2004, Stephen Oppenheimer, The Real Eve: Modern Man's Journey Out of Africa, page 107:

     Bad-mouthing Neanderthals […] is symptomatic of a need to exclude and even demonize. […] I suggest that the unproven dumbing of the Neanderthals is an example of the same cultural preconception.

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4. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#DUMB) To reduce the intellectual demands of.
   • 2002, Deborah Meier, In Schools We Trust: Creating Communities of Learning in an Era of Testing, page 126:

     The ensuing storm caused the department to lower the bar—amid protests that this was dumbing the test down—so that only 80 percent of urban kids would fail.

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Adverb

dumb (not comparable)Category:English lemmas#DUMBCategory:English adverbs#DUMBCategory:English uncomparable adverbs#DUMBCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#DUMBCategory:Pages with entries#DUMBCategory:Pages with 3 entries#DUMB

2. (African-American VernacularCategory:African-American Vernacular English#DUMB) Very, extremely.

   Synonyms: type, mad, hella, wicked, (NYC) odee, (MLE, MTE) bare

   • 2017, Don Winslow, The Force, London: HarperCollins Publishers, →ISBN, page 134:

     "What, you don't like your food?" Russo asks. ¶ "Are you kidding? It's dumb good."

     Category:English terms with quotations#DUMB

   • 2019, Natisha Raynor, She Made a Savage Change His Ways 2, Atlanta, G.A.: Royalty Publishing House, →ISBN, page 4:

     Yo this shit is crazy how these females are making these doctors rich. My baby moms Miracle is getting surgery in a week or so. She's flying out to Colombia. That shit really baffles me as far as she's concerned, because Miracle is already dumb thick. I'm like damn ma, how big do you want your ass to be?

     Category:English terms with quotations#DUMB

Adjective

dumb (comparative more dumb, superlative most dumb)Category:English lemmas#DUMBCategory:English adjectives#DUMBCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#DUMBCategory:Pages with entries#DUMBCategory:Pages with 3 entries#DUMB

1. (African-American VernacularCategory:African-American Vernacular English#DUMB, datedCategory:English dated terms#DUMB) An intensifier expressing contempt; damn, damned.
   • 2002, Glenna Whiteaker Wilding, Tales of a Ridgerunner: The Adventures of a Young Family Growing Up in the East Tennessee Mountains, 1890s - 1920s, Prospect, K.Y.: Harmony House Publishers, →ISBN, page 95:

     Pap came to stand beside her and watched the two play. "That pup has just plum' fell in love with our Sammy, an' Sam's real took by him," Pap said. "It's a dumb shame, too. I talked to Jim, but he's not of a mind to sell."

     Category:English terms with quotations#DUMB

Derived terms

• dombenesse
• dumben

Descendants

• English: dumb
• Scots: dumb

References

• “dǒmb, dǒumb, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 27 April 2019.

Declension

Related terms

• dumbnes

Descendants

• Middle English: dumb
  • Scots: dumb
  • English: dumb