Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A person who is felt to be deficient in judgment, good sense, or intelligence; a fool.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A person of limited or feeble intelligence; a foolish or silly person.
- n. The American dunlin, purre, or ox-bird. See cut under dunlin.
Wiktionary
- n. pejorative A simple person lacking common sense.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A person of weak intellect; a silly person.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a person lacking intelligence or common sense
Etymologies
- simple + -ton (as in a surname). Abbreviation of simple Tony or Anthony (Grose 1811 Dictionary). Compare French simplet, Italian semplicione. (Wiktionary)
- simple + -ton (as in surnames such as Chesterton, Singleton). (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“And it means you engage in simpleton, “just world” thinking.”
“But now when an Egyptian simpleton is tortured by the hands of a Libyan officer - a government representative - in an official police station for a prolonged period of time with the intention of torture and homicide, and when the guy is shipped back in a pile to spend the rest of his life incapacitated - when all of that happens, will we see thousands of Islamists demonstrating in his defense?”
Global Voices in English » Egypt: What’s good for the goose is NOT good for the gander
“A certain simpleton was once walking along, haling his ass after him by the halter, when a pair of sharpers saw him and one said to his fellow, “I will take that ass from yonder wight.””
“Because, as Mr. DeVito makes abundantly clear, there are and always have been two Yogi Berras: 1) the public celebrity — a goofy, good-natured, strange-looking (sportswriters at the time used far-worse adjectives), malaprop-spewing simpleton from the Italian slums of St. Louis and 2) the real person behind the public persona, a far more complex and intelligent character.”
“In D. C.'s power corridors, he's known as a simpleton, but in reality he's much more dangerous.”
The Huffington Post: David Bourgeois: GOP Senate Candidate Ron Johnson: Pure Plastic
“No, you arrogant simpleton, that isn't just the way it is.”
“But it seems fitting that one of the most ardent supporters of a simpleton is a simpleton.”
Think Progress » BREAKING: McCain Reaches Agreement With Bush On Military Tribunals
“One is called a simpleton when one demands that oaths be held sacred; our crimes are nameless.”
“It was not the first time that she had been called a simpleton, or some kindred name, by the out-spoken Miss”
“Do you think, because I am called a simpleton, that I have no eyes, nor ears, nor sense?”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘simpleton’.
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Unsavory characters
absconder, aretaloger, arriviste, avaunter, bamboozler, bandit, banger, barbarian, barmecide, barrator, beldam, blatherskite and 190 more...
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unkind words
unkind words or those refering them.
twit, gibe, blockhead, bonehead, cretin, dullard, imbecile, simpleton, clod, dunce, simp, ignoramus and 39 more...
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Just not to bright
words describing people or things that just aren't very intelligent
galah, idiot, simpleton, dufus, dummy, stupid, moron, moronic, idiocy, dimwit, special, on the short bus and 10 more...
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Insult Words
A rich collection of all the ways you can insult someone's intelligence.
nincompoop, dimwit, moron, cretin, idiot, meathead, dingbat, nerd, loony, fool, dunce, lamebrain and 31 more...
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Papageno's Words, Pt. II
cicurate, circumforaneous, codger, comiconomenclaturist, constable, contradistinction, contraindicated, counterpane, coxcomb, decalcomania, decanal, decoction and 307 more...
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Notre Dame de Paris
From Notre Dame de Paris by good ole Victor Hugo. (Also called The Hunchback of Notre Dame.)
cuivres, diable, hawthorn, provost, epithalamium, affrighted, mendicants, vagrants, Styx, chimeras, coif, matagrabolise and 196 more...
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The Sog Collection
My big word list.
chaos, flaccid, empirical, flotsam, cacophony, grumble, assuage, awe, romance, mortality, coalesce, fortuitous and 3282 more...
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slumry's Words
cattywampus, ingratiate, lackadaisical, exactitude, exfoliate, fulminate, circumnavigation, circuitous, debride, sidle, sequester, chicory and 1002 more...
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Words I have to learn
exasperate, felony, weld, fraud, worksheet, ransom, rehearse, preliminary, offshore, parole, infamous, sieve and 436 more...
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wunderkammer's Words
smarmy, bubkes, elucidate, togs, aeolian, carp, kibosh, bosky, ramshackle, mange, harpy, effervesce and 163 more...
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aliko's Words
deli, turkey, bodrum, deniz, sunny, seks, tatil, hava, zeeman, captain, kapitein, kaptan and 256 more...
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Necessary?
"Words are very..."
The above was the original description for this list. Unfortunately, it doesn't convey much about the list contents.
I'm leaving you to draw your own conclusions abo...supererogation, fruitcake, unbeknownst, melifluous, bane, cavy, unnecessary, lyrical, question, undertow, weapon, arduous and 200 more...
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Favorite Words II
antipode, subsumed, maladroit, quidnunc, tonsorial, savvy, vignette, retrograde, flummoxed, ne plus ultra, icosahedron, plethora and 138 more...
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Gil Blas
Interesting words and usages from Smollett's 1749 translation of Lesage's L'Histoire de Gil Blas de Santillane
reck, durance, rhodomontade, hangdog, trap, lustre, pin, boggle, dandle, birthday suit, colic, gripes and 238 more...
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stpeter's Words
abase, abasement, abashed, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abhorrent, abide, abject, ablation, abnegation and 3536 more...
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Whatever Works (2009)
Words from 2009 'Whatever Works' film.
fault, racket, unto, flaw, fallacious, notion, decent, embalm, filch, delusion, delusions of gran..., grandeur and 135 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for simpleton.
yarb Citation on sharper. Sep 18, 2008