clueless

adjective clue·less \ ˈklü-ləs \

Updated on: 19 Apr 2018

Definition of clueless

1 : having or providing no clue

a clueless case for the police to solve

2 : completely or hopelessly bewildered, unaware, ignorant, or foolish

clueless about what they want

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cluelessly

adverb

- I played dumb. I have arrived at a point in my life where I can perform this stunt with aplomb. "What do you mean?" I asked, as cluelessly as I knew how.
- —Steve Friedman

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cluelessness

noun

- Mowrey is also trying to make a deer hunter of Bentley, whose cluelessness as an outdoors-man is a rich source of amusement to his country-boy crony.
- —Austin Murphy

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Examples of clueless in a Sentence

When it comes to computers, I'm clueless.
They were clueless about what to do.

Recent Examples of clueless from the Web

Where Mr Zuckerberg was competent, his interrogators were often clueless (see article).

— The Economist, "What to make of Mark Zuckerberg’s testimony," 14 Apr. 2018
On January 23, Metro-North trains traveling across New York and Connecticut were stopped dead in their tracks at the evening rush hour after a clueless technician in the railway's control hub in Grand Central Station pulled a plug out of a socket.

— lynnley browning, Newsweek, "The Perils of Metro-North," 20 Feb. 2014
Kudos to the city for working so clueless and magnificently with the owner to allow this to happen.

— Elgin Courier-News, "Speak out: Assault weapons ban worked," 10 Mar. 2018
Part of the charm of their affair derives from the fact that Turner is initially clueless about Grahame’s Hollywood life.

— gary thompson, Philly.com, "Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool," 24 Jan. 2018
Michigan's players aren't clueless to the fact that this is a rivalry game.

— nick baumgardner, Detroit Free Press, "For John Beilein, rivalry with Michigan State isn't a love-hate issue," 12 Jan. 2018
True accountability will come only when parents and the community, rather than clueless bureaucrats, are the ones putting pressure on schools.

— lindsey burke, National Review, "Fraud and Failure in D.C. Public Schools," 12 Feb. 2018
First, the New Orleans Saints coach and his staff will throw a simplified system at the offense and defense so the players won't look like a bunch of clueless football players with no uniform semblance.

— larry holder, NOLA.com, "Sean Payton's Pro Bowl philosophy: Work quickly, enjoy the atmosphere," 24 Jan. 2018
And, naturally, Episode VIII highlight Rose Tico (Kelly Marie Tran) is almost completely removed in favor of making Finn even more boring and clueless, which seems like a neat metaphor for this entire endeavor.

— tom philip, GQ, "An Angry Fan Re-edited Star Wars: The Last Jedi to Make It Less Feminist—And We Watched It," 17 Jan. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'clueless.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.