Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. An intellectually disabled person who exhibits extraordinary ability in a highly specialized area, such as mathematics or music.
Wiktionary
- n. A person who exhibits an extraordinary ability in one subject (often mathematics) whilst being mentally retarded in all other fields.
WordNet 3.0
- n. person who is mentally retarded in general but who displays remarkable aptitude in some limited field (usually involving memory)
Etymologies
- French : idiot, idiot + savant, learned. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“There isn’t a single thing about any of us that hasn’t been documented: the teleportation of the Yogi, the telekinetics of some gamblers, the idiot savant mathematicians, and most of all, the so-called poltergeist, the moving about of household goods through the instrumentation of a young girl.”
Science Fiction Hall of Fame
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘idiot savant’.
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From reading
Collected from reading
venerate, reprobate, reticent, adoration, ethereal, ephemeral, equivocal, contumacious, heinous, solicitous, agnostic, aberration and 335 more...
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Vocabulary
shibboleth, verboten, jejune, ostensible, multifarious, quintessence, purportedly, tangential, vacillate, quagmire, wanton, onerous and 74 more...
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generationnext's Words
petulant, vehement, pensive, lascivious, vacillate, histrionic, satiated, svelte, lithe, zeitgeist, viscous, sommelier and 526 more...
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gcherches's Words
serendipity, roadrunner, inner child, coagulant, esquire, vicissitude, idiot savant, mitigation, affirmation, affirmative, diatribe, affirmative action and 185 more...
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sionnach's Words
contumely, fomite, holmgang, poltroon, eleemosynary, obsidian, nugatory, grindcore, felch, recrudescent, pyx, parenteral and 3271 more...
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Tolland's list
Those I've come across and try to keep fresh within my mind.
clandestine, dysphoric, indictive, vigil, fractious, assiduous, indefatigable, ubiquitous, insidious, paroicous, aplomb, sangfroid and 654 more...
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Jumbo Shrimp
A list of classic oxymorons (using the term loosely). Named after my brother's favorite.
jumbo shrimp, fine mess, plastic glasses, plastic silverware, working vacation, alone together, head butt, new classic, adult children, baby grand, constant change, almost exactly and 191 more...
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thricedotted's Words
schadenfreude, vanquish, calumny, obsequious, rhapsody, expostulate, promontory, bordello, quintessence, catharsis, recapitulation, myriad and 937 more...
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random furrin borrowings
gaucherie, robot, eminence grise, hoi polloi, feuilleton, rapprochement, cherchez la femme, hors de combat, je ne sais quoi, laissez-faire, apparatchik, bolshevik and 53 more...
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Words I like
abrasive, velleity, television, vibrator, gratifying, semiliterate, literate, nicotine, clusterfuck, kitty, cat, idiot and 1 more...
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calaggie's words
reticent, recusant, incendiary, egregious, surreptitious, facetious, idiot savant, fastidious, fiduciary, voluminous, elucidate, extricate and 71 more...
Tweets
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