dunce cap
noun
: a conical cap formerly used as a punishment for slow learners at school
called also dunce's cap
Examples of dunce cap in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Being doused in ink and being made to wear a dunce cap?
—
Nan Z. Da
june 10, Literary Hub, 10 June 2025
While accepting the award, Roan continued the night’s clown theme by wearing a sky-high dunce cap.
—Jason P. Frank, Vulture, 2 Feb. 2025
Go sit in the dunce corner and put the dunce cap on.
—Dana Rose Falcone, People.com, 25 Dec. 2024
The counterrevolutionaries were forced to confess their crimes; Red Guards placed tall white-paper dunce caps on their heads and heavy wooden plaques around their necks, listing their names and their misdeeds.
—Weijian Shan, Foreign Affairs, 26 Jan. 2019
Many, especially the older ones, reported that their prior experience of treatment was being screamed at or being made to scrub floors with toothbrushes and wear dunce caps.
—Maia Szalavitz, Scientific American, 17 Sep. 2024
But the dunce cap becomes more sinister when compared to the row of clothes hanging across from it: children-sized Ku Klux Klan robes.
—Amanda Rosa, Miami Herald, 31 Jan. 2024
In the corner, a comically tall white dunce cap sits, ready for some misbehaved student to be ridiculed with it.
—Amanda Rosa, Miami Herald, 31 Jan. 2024
Ironically, she was punished in school for not being able to keep quiet and put in a corner with a dunce cap on her head.
—Dallas News, 30 Jan. 2023
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Nan Z. Da
june 10, Literary Hub, 10 June 2025
While accepting the award, Roan continued the night’s clown theme by wearing a sky-high dunce cap.
—Jason P. Frank, Vulture, 2 Feb. 2025
Go sit in the dunce corner and put the dunce cap on.
—Dana Rose Falcone, People.com, 25 Dec. 2024
The counterrevolutionaries were forced to confess their crimes; Red Guards placed tall white-paper dunce caps on their heads and heavy wooden plaques around their necks, listing their names and their misdeeds.
—Weijian Shan, Foreign Affairs, 26 Jan. 2019
Many, especially the older ones, reported that their prior experience of treatment was being screamed at or being made to scrub floors with toothbrushes and wear dunce caps.
—Maia Szalavitz, Scientific American, 17 Sep. 2024
But the dunce cap becomes more sinister when compared to the row of clothes hanging across from it: children-sized Ku Klux Klan robes.
—Amanda Rosa, Miami Herald, 31 Jan. 2024
In the corner, a comically tall white dunce cap sits, ready for some misbehaved student to be ridiculed with it.
—Amanda Rosa, Miami Herald, 31 Jan. 2024
Ironically, she was punished in school for not being able to keep quiet and put in a corner with a dunce cap on her head.
—Dallas News, 30 Jan. 2023
Cite this Entry
“Dunce cap.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dunce%20cap. Accessed 18 Jul. 2025.
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