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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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for empty-headed
Adjective
  • Free speech covers the jokes, the satire, the parodies—even the dumb, crass, or offensive ones.
    Lizz Winstead, Time, 27 Sep. 2025
  • On the flipside, Kimmel, like everyone else with a boss, is not protected against saying dumb stuff and getting fired.
    Matt Fleming, Oc Register, 25 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • The real star of this episode, however, was Gretchen Christine Beauté and her stupid Lara Croft outfit.
    Brian Moylan, Vulture, 26 Sep. 2025
  • Among the colorful cast of rogues, villains, queens and clergymen, Andre The Giant stands out as the young suitor’s kind-hearted but stupid brute.
    Duane Byrge, HollywoodReporter, 25 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • The slow start that Mayfield is alluding to has to do with the Buccaneers only scoring two field goals through the first half, and scoring their first touchdown well into the third quarter.
    James Brizuela, MSNBC Newsweek, 29 Sep. 2025
  • Construction in the section of Jackson Park, often described as Chicago’s equivalent of Central Park, has been slow.
    Christine Valora, The Washington Examiner, 28 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • Don’t pull over in the roundabout Roundabouts with a single lane of traffic in each direction are fairly simple – yield to traffic in the roundabout, wait for a gap in traffic and go through, Bryson said.
    Eric D. Lawrence, USA Today, 28 Sep. 2025
  • This can be as simple as bodyweight movements, resistance bands or dumbbells, focusing on compound/functional movements like squats, pushes and pulls.
    Melissa Rudy, FOXNews.com, 27 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • Some models suggest that K2-18b is a hycean world — an ocean planet with a thick atmosphere of hydrogen — and the signature of dimethyl sulfide was detected by the James Webb Space Telescope.
    Keith Cooper, Space.com, 1 Oct. 2025
  • Its fabric is thick but not too heavy, according to reviewers, which is great for someone like me whose body temperature fluctuates constantly.
    Melody Kazel, PEOPLE, 1 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • This place belongs to the Carver, a deranged butcher who hunts anything foolish enough to enter.
    Meredith G. White, AZCentral.com, 25 Sep. 2025
  • France had been humiliated in 1871 by Prussia in a foolish war of its own making, and Dreyfus, accused of passing military secrets to the Germans, was a convenient scapegoat in a time of national malaise.
    Ian Buruma, New Yorker, 22 Sep. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Empty-headed.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/empty-headed. Accessed 2 Oct. 2025.

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