knucklehead

noun

knuck·​le·​head ˈnə-kəl-ˌhed 

: dumbbell sense 2

knuckleheaded

ˈnə-kəl-ˌhed-əd 

adjective

Synonyms

• airhead
• birdbrain
• blockhead
• bonehead
• bubblehead
• chowderhead
• chucklehead
• clodpoll
• clodpole
• clot [British]
• cluck
• clunk
• cretin
• cuddy [British dialect]
• cuddie
• deadhead
• dim bulb [slang]
• dimwit
• dip
• dodo
• dolt
• donkey
• doofus [slang]
• dope
• dork [slang]
• dullard
• dum-dum
• dumbbell
• dumbhead
• dummkopf
• dummy
• dunce
• dunderhead
• fathead
• gander
• golem
• goof
• goon
• half-wit
• hammerhead
• hardhead
• idiot
• ignoramus
• imbecile
• jackass
• know-nothing
• lamebrain
• loggerhead [chiefly dialect]
• loon
• lump
• lunkhead
• meathead
• mome [archaic]
• moron
• mug [chiefly British]
• mutt
• natural
• nimrod [slang]
• nincompoop
• ninny
• ninnyhammer
• nit [chiefly British]
• nitwit
• noddy
• noodle
• numskull
• numbskull
• oaf
• pinhead
• prat [British]
• ratbag [chiefly Australian]
• saphead
• schlub [slang]
• shlub
• schnook [slang]
• simpleton
• stock
• stupe
• stupid
• thickhead
• turkey
• woodenhead
• yahoo
• yo-yo

Example Sentences

Don't be such a knucklehead.

I'd like to get my hands on the knucklehead who designed that paper-towel dispenser.

Recent Examples on the Web

But one knucklehead mistake at the wrong time could have easily prevented any of that — plus numerous other things — from happening. —Stephen Means, cleveland, 6 Feb. 2023

As for the most recent instance of it at Carbuncle Pond: The DEM believes that at some point after dark on Thursday, the aforementioned knucklehead or group of knuckleheads dumped the portable toilet into the pond. —Brian Amaral, BostonGlobe.com, 7 Nov. 2022

Don has a long, long fuse, but the neighborhood knucklehead wants to light it. —Helen Shaw, Vulture, 14 Apr. 2022

The knucklehead convention got so bad, the bridge — which cost nearly $600 million and took several years to build — was closed three nights in a row over the weekend. —Steve Lopezcolumnist, Los Angeles Times, 27 July 2022

Right, Curry got hot and the Celtics played some knucklehead ball. —Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 6 June 2022

All coaches run into some knucklehead who wants to run up the score and embarrass you. —Mike Preston, baltimoresun.com, 21 Feb. 2022

Poor Olu, Martin, and Nayte sit in miserable silence as their knucklehead competitors insult each other with schoolyard taunts. —Kristen Baldwin, EW.com, 3 Nov. 2021

Some of the casting is oddball, as with Brendan Fraser’s impish take on a mob knucklehead. —Michael Phillips, chicagotribune.com, 7 July 2021

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Word History

First Known Use

1942, in the meaning defined above