as in idiot
a stupid person
she's here on scholarship, so she's clearly no dunce
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Recent Examples of dunce
The peewee population interacted with each other in various settings and included bocce bowlers, bare-bottomed peasants, baguette bakers, blind men, the mustachioed mayor, female fishmongers, dunce hat-wearing schoolboys, snail saleswomen, and gobs more characters.
—
Gqlshare, Orange County Register, 15 Jan. 2025
Go sit in the dunce corner and put the dunce cap on.
—Dana Rose Falcone, People.com, 25 Dec. 2024
In 1999, England was the dunce of Test cricket, sitting at the bottom of the class after Stephen Fleming’s tourists beat them 2-1 during that summer.
—Tim Ellis, Forbes, 26 Nov. 2024
The task its creator, Oliver Selfridge, has set for the machine is to recognize letters like R, A, and T. Unfortunately, Pandemonium is somewhat of a dunce.
—John Ganz, Harper's Magazine, 22 May 2024
See All Example Sentences for dunce
Gqlshare, Orange County Register, 15 Jan. 2025
Go sit in the dunce corner and put the dunce cap on.
—Dana Rose Falcone, People.com, 25 Dec. 2024
In 1999, England was the dunce of Test cricket, sitting at the bottom of the class after Stephen Fleming’s tourists beat them 2-1 during that summer.
—Tim Ellis, Forbes, 26 Nov. 2024
The task its creator, Oliver Selfridge, has set for the machine is to recognize letters like R, A, and T. Unfortunately, Pandemonium is somewhat of a dunce.
—John Ganz, Harper's Magazine, 22 May 2024
See All Example Sentences for dunce
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dunce
Noun
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This drunk moron — quite different from his character in the novel — bears a ton of blame.—
Roxana Hadadi,
Vulture,
13 Feb. 2026
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The Dilbert principle — traced back to a quote in a 1995 strip — posited that managers and higher-ups are actually successful morons whose stubbornness is confused for real leadership qualities.—
Jon Blistein,
Rolling Stone,
13 Jan. 2026
Noun
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The scale of the headloss was best summed up by Luis Suarez attempting to reason with Messi, before the Argentine did anything on the Suarez scale of stupid.—
Phil Hay,
New York Times,
23 Feb. 2026
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But the new parking fees at Balboa Park are a whole new level of stupid.—
Inga,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
16 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Dunce.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dunce. Accessed 1 Mar. 2026.
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