dumb

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“
But you muss be dumb-- dumb as you kin, anyhow--an' you mus' neber--neber cry The earnestness of this remark caused Hester to laugh even when on the verge of weeping, so she grasped Sally's hand and shook it warmly, thus cementing the friendship which had so auspiciously begun After the meal Mrs Lilly took her lodger into the front room and gave her embroidery work to do.

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Definitions (35)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (11)

  1. adjective Lacking the power of speech. Used of animals and inanimate objects.
  2. adjective Often Offensive Incapable of using speech; mute. Used of humans. See Usage Note at mute.
  3. adjective Temporarily speechless, as with shock or fear: I was dumb with disbelief.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (18)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

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Examples (50)

  • This was really dumb, and as History, I always judge "dumb" poorly. —  The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com
  • - When she pushes you or hits you like a dumb *** cuz she thinks shes stronger than you; grab her and don't let go. —  [Help] Most Recent Posts
  • Psychologically, you won't want to look like a dumb-dumb anyway, so you'll release something better than you might have imagined. —  Trizle
  • Do dumb people too communicate the way Joshis do because for the dumb, the need to communicate exists but the ability to speak does not?
  • I think the title alone helps to perpetuate the idea that it's ok to be dumb, which is exactly the wrong message to be sending. —  Rooneg::Weblog
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Related

Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

stupid ·  helpless ·  mute ·  silent ·  crazy ·  blind ·  sick

Used in the same contextWord Family

dumb:   dumber ·  dumbest
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English, from Old English.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. Early modern English also dum, dumbe; from Middle English dumb, domb, doumb, from Anglo-Saxon dumb, mute,= OFries. dumbe, dumi = Dutch dom = Middle Low German Low German dum, dull, stupid, = Old High German tumb, Middle High German tump, tum, G. (with Low German d) dumm, mute, stupid, = Icelandic dumbr, dumbi, mute, = Swedish dumb, mute, dum, stupid, = Danish dum, stupid, = Gothic (Moesogothic) dumbs. Old High German tumb, German dumm, is found also in sense of ‘deaf’ (Old High German toup); cf. Greek τυφλός, blind; perhaps the two words are ult. connected, the orig. sense being then ‘dull of perception.’ See deaf.
  2. from Middle English doumben, from Anglo-Saxon ā-dumbian, intransitive, become dumb, be silent, from dumb, dumb: see dumb, adjective
 

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