Topic Thesaurus
Roget's Thesaurus

Imbecility. Folly

Nouns
Verbs
  • to be an imbecile etc. adj.
  • have no brains, have no sense etc. Intelligence, Wisdom. trifle, drivel, radoter, dote
  • ramble etc. (madness) Insanity
  • play the fool, play the monkey, monkey around, fool around
  • take leave of one's senses (insanity) Insanity
  • not see an inch beyond one's nose
  • stultify oneself etc. Unskillfulness
  • talk nonsense etc. Absurdity.
Adjectives
  • unintelligent [Applied to persons], unintellectual, unreasoning
  • mindless, witless, reasoningless, brainless
  • halfbaked
  • having no head etc. Intelligence, Wisdom
  • not bright etc. Intelligence, Wisdom
  • inapprehensible. weak headed, addle headed, puzzle headed, blunder headed, muddle headed, muddy headed, pig headed, beetle headed, buffle headed, chuckle headed, mutton headed, maggoty headed, grossheaded
  • beef headed, fat witted, fat-headed. weak-minded, feeble-minded
  • dull minded, shallow minded, lack-brained
  • rattle-brained, rattle headed
  • half witted, lean witted, short witted, dull witted, blunt-witted, shallow-pated, clod-pated, addle-pated, addle-brained
  • dim-sighted, short-sighted
  • thick-skulled
  • weak in the upper story. shallow, borne, weak, wanting, soft, sappy, spoony
  • dull, dull as a beetle
  • stupid, heavy, insulse, obtuse, blunt, stolid, doltish
  • asinine
  • inapt etc. Unskillfulness
  • prosaic etc. Dullness
  • hebetudinous. childish, child-like
  • infantine, infantile, babyish, babish
  • puerile, anile
  • simple etc. (credulous) Credulity
  • old-womanish. fatuous, idiotic, imbecile, driveling
  • blatant, babbling
  • vacant
  • sottish
  • bewildered etc. Uncertainty. blockish, unteachable Boeotian, Boeotic
  • bovine
  • ungifted, undiscerning, unenlightened, unwise, unphilosophical
  • apish
  • simious. foolish, silly, senseless, irrational, insensate, nonsensical, inept
  • maudlin. narrow-minded etc. Misjudgment
  • bigoted etc. (obstinate) Obstinacy
  • giddy etc. (thoughtless) Inattention
  • rash etc. Rashness
  • eccentric etc. (crazed) Insanity. [Applied to actions] foolish, unwise, injudicious, improper, unreasonable, without reason, ridiculous, absurd, idiotic, silly, stupid, asinine
  • ill-imagined, ill-advised, ill-judged, ill-devised
  • inconsistent, irrational, unphilosophical
  • extravagant etc. (nonsensical) Absurdity
  • sleeveless, idle
  • pointless, useless etc. Inutility
  • inexpedient etc. Inexpedience
  • frivolous etc. (trivial) Unimportance.
Phrases
  • a fool's bolt is soon shot" [Henry V.] clitellae bovi sunt impositae [Lat.] [Cicero]
  • fools rush in where angels fear to tread" [Pope]
  • the bookful blockhead, ignorantly read" [Pope]
  • to varnish nonsense with the charms of sound" [Churchill].