imbecile

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“
We build asylums for the imbecile, the maimed and the sick.

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Definitions (17)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (5)

  1. noun A stupid or silly person; a dolt.
  2. noun A person whose mental acumen is well below par.
  3. noun A person of moderate to severe mental retardation having a mental age of from three to seven years and generally being capable of some degree of communication and performance of simple tasks under supervision. The term belongs to a classification system no longer in use and is now considered offensive.
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Examples (50)

  • By the time the marquess did notice, the imbecile was already there, and well launched into his exciting revelations. —  Loretta Chase - Lord of Scoundrels
  • We build asylums for the imbecile, the maimed and the sick. —  Green Mountain Daily - Front Page
  • As long as Ashley owns the club this imbecile will be our manager as he is quite simply Ashley's yes man and a complete and utter PR liabilty. —  Soccer Blogs - latest posts
  • (Or maybe you're thinking I'm a frakking imbecile, and that this is absolutely terrible news.) —  Entertainment Weekly's PopWatch
  • She regards me as something between an orphan child and a freak of nature; to her, an author is a kind of imbecile which is to be humoured and cossetted. —  The Woman's Way
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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

idiot ·  simpleton ·  buffoon ·  coward ·  blackguard ·  oaf ·  fool ·  dullard ·  madman ·  duffer ·  brute ·  impostor
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. From obsolete French imbécille, weak, feeble, from Old French, from Latin imbēcillus : in-, not; see in-1 + possibly bacillum, staff, diminutive of baculum, rod; see bak- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from Old French imbecile, imbecille, French imbécile = Spanish Portuguese imbecil = Italian imbecille, from Latin imbecillis, inbecillis, usually imbecillus, inbecillus, weak, feeble; origin unknown. The common derivation from in, on, + bacillus, a staff (as if referring to the feeble steps of age), is improbable. The first syllable is more likely in- privative Hence imbecile, v., and its doublet embezzle, q. v.
  2. Earlier also imbecil, imbecill, imbecell, etc., and, with devious forms, imbezzle, embezzle, etc. (see embezzle, ult. a doublet of imbecile, v.); from the adjective
 

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/ˈɪmbɛsɪl/
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