as in dumb
not having or showing an ability to absorb ideas readily
got tired of being treated like an empty-headed lackey and quit to start a business
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Recent Examples of empty-headed
Gosling earned an Oscar nomination for his role as the empty-headed Ken, while Ferrell played the goofy CEO of Mattel.
—
Wesley Stenzel, EW.com, 16 July 2025
Andrew Cunningham Pokémon NPCs usually spout empty-headed pleasantries about the wonders of Pokémon; the NPCs in Palworld set a darker tone from the start.
—Andrew Cunningham, Ars Technica, 23 Jan. 2024
Fairly or not, NOFX and its Warped Tour compatriots are easily written off as empty-headed, obnoxious, adolescent bros. Fat Mike’s capitalist streak rubs many purists the wrong way.
—Brett Martin, New York Times, 28 Nov. 2023
Wesley Stenzel, EW.com, 16 July 2025
Andrew Cunningham Pokémon NPCs usually spout empty-headed pleasantries about the wonders of Pokémon; the NPCs in Palworld set a darker tone from the start.
—Andrew Cunningham, Ars Technica, 23 Jan. 2024
Fairly or not, NOFX and its Warped Tour compatriots are easily written off as empty-headed, obnoxious, adolescent bros. Fat Mike’s capitalist streak rubs many purists the wrong way.
—Brett Martin, New York Times, 28 Nov. 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for empty-headed
Adjective
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But also these dumb things, from another perspective, can have a certain type of digital trashy poetry.—
Andy Crump,
Time,
31 Oct. 2025
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The bounty hunter kills some random dudes who are dumb enough to cross him and steals a Falka doll from some little girls who have adopted the Rats as folk heroes.—
Scott Meslow,
Vulture,
30 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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And that’s a stupid, dumb, mindless question.—
Lisa Gutierrez,
Kansas City Star,
25 Oct. 2025
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Dessert Week is the stupidest week, at least conceptually.—
Brian Moylan,
Vulture,
24 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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Tiles also exhibited hysteresis, which was smaller at slower speeds due to the rubber’s viscoelastic properties, as reported by Nanowerk.—
Jijo Malayil,
Interesting Engineering,
2 Nov. 2025
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Levi, an electrical engineer who founded MicroKits in 2020, has had to raise prices, slow production and pause plans to launch a new product – Banan-a-Synth – that lets kids turn a bunch of bananas into a kind of keyboard.—
Maureen Groppe,
USA Today,
2 Nov. 2025
Adjective
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While House Republicans can pass legislation with a simple majority vote, Senate Republicans cannot advance most matters without meeting a 60-vote threshold.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
26 Oct. 2025
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But in stoppage time, Miami was gifted a third goal when Jordi Alba crossed from the left and keeper Willis, colliding with defender Walker Zimmerman, spilled the ball right to Messi, who had the simplest of tap-ins.—
The Athletic Staff,
New York Times,
25 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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The thick artificial foliage is pre-lit with warm white LED bulbs spaced through the entire length of the 10-foot piece.—
Kate McGregor,
Architectural Digest,
5 Nov. 2025
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With more than 38,000 gallons of fuel on board the cargo flight bound for Hawaii, the crash created a massive ball of fire – punctuated by smaller explosions from flammable material on the ground – and sent a towering plume of thick black smoke into the sky.—
Karina Tsui,
CNN Money,
5 Nov. 2025
Adjective
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That was questionable, but not egregiously foolish, in our view, because of the limited amount of time left.—
Barry Jackson,
Miami Herald,
3 Nov. 2025
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Another agent pointed to how contractions in post-strike, post-pandemic Hollywood have decimated the theater business, creating new opportunities that Netflix would be foolish to pass up.—
Chris Lee,
Vulture,
3 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Empty-headed.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/empty-headed. Accessed 9 Nov. 2025.
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