nincompoop
noun
nin·com·poop
ˈnin-kəm-ˌpüp 
ˈniŋ-
plural nincompoops
informal
nincompoopery
ˈnin-kəm-ˌpü-pə-rē
noun
ˈniŋ-
Each day's news seems to bring ever more horrific stories of greed, incompetence, arrogance, excess, deceit … and inconceivable nincompoopery …
—
The Hightower Lowdown
The Hightower Lowdown
Synonyms
Examples of nincompoop in a Sentence
The people running that company are a bunch of nincompoops!
quit acting like a nincompoop, because I know you are smarter than that
Recent Examples on the Web
Only one police officer pops up there, a smiley nincompoop who sucks down children’s birthday cake from behind a desk and shrugs his way through conversation.
—Hillary Kelly, The Atlantic, 11 Mar. 2024
Somebody else could have gotten away with doing half as much, but Ruffalo proves a compound nincompoop.
—Wesley Morris, New York Times, 18 Feb. 2024
Tom was of course not a nincompoop, but a serious, thoughtful person who hungered to add substance to sketch comedy.
—Robert Lloyd, Los Angeles Times, 29 Dec. 2023
One wonders what those worthless nincompoops would have done during the Nazi holocaust that murdered upward of seven million Jews, and over seven million more victims besides.
—Noah Rothman, National Review, 26 Oct. 2023
The film’s younger guys dress in fake fur and act like Neanderthals, while the middle-aged men who have jobs are portrayed as incompetent nincompoops.
—Susan Pinker, WSJ, 21 Sep. 2023
Joshua Echebiri, as a nincompoop of a Slender; David Ryan Smith, playing the simperingly pretentious Doctor Caius; Angela Grovey, sympathetically devious as Mama Quickly and Kyle Scatliffe, as a gallant Mister Page.
—Washington Post, 15 Aug. 2021
Occam's Razor cuts through the noise to suggest Americans aren't through electing a reprobate, a criminal and an utter nincompoop.
—Arkansas Online, 23 June 2021
Equal in irrelevance was HR Paul, the head of the human resources department, who was generally regarded as a nincompoop psychology PhD with a flatulence problem.
—Eric Johnson, Recode, 2 Oct. 2018
Hillary Kelly, The Atlantic, 11 Mar. 2024
Somebody else could have gotten away with doing half as much, but Ruffalo proves a compound nincompoop.
—Wesley Morris, New York Times, 18 Feb. 2024
Tom was of course not a nincompoop, but a serious, thoughtful person who hungered to add substance to sketch comedy.
—Robert Lloyd, Los Angeles Times, 29 Dec. 2023
One wonders what those worthless nincompoops would have done during the Nazi holocaust that murdered upward of seven million Jews, and over seven million more victims besides.
—Noah Rothman, National Review, 26 Oct. 2023
The film’s younger guys dress in fake fur and act like Neanderthals, while the middle-aged men who have jobs are portrayed as incompetent nincompoops.
—Susan Pinker, WSJ, 21 Sep. 2023
Joshua Echebiri, as a nincompoop of a Slender; David Ryan Smith, playing the simperingly pretentious Doctor Caius; Angela Grovey, sympathetically devious as Mama Quickly and Kyle Scatliffe, as a gallant Mister Page.
—Washington Post, 15 Aug. 2021
Occam's Razor cuts through the noise to suggest Americans aren't through electing a reprobate, a criminal and an utter nincompoop.
—Arkansas Online, 23 June 2021
Equal in irrelevance was HR Paul, the head of the human resources department, who was generally regarded as a nincompoop psychology PhD with a flatulence problem.
—Eric Johnson, Recode, 2 Oct. 2018
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'nincompoop.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near nincompoop
Cite this Entry
“Nincompoop.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nincompoop. Accessed 23 Apr. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
nincompoop
noun
nin·com·poop
ˈnin-kəm-ˌpüp
ˈniŋ-
: a foolish or stupid person
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