as in dumb
not having or showing an ability to absorb ideas readily
a comedy show that invariably portrays the British aristocracy as a bunch of gormless twits
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Recent Examples of gormless
Ustinov hired him, though, as Stamp had unwittingly replicated Billy Budd’s gormless behavior.
—
Rhett Bartlett, HollywoodReporter, 17 Aug. 2025
There’s some droll humor in this pileup of bad decisions and bad behavior — particularly in one running gag that sees Carey doggedly befriending Ashley’s parade of exes, including one hilariously gormless f-boy played by drawling ensemble standout Charlie Gillespie.
—Guy Lodge, Variety, 19 May 2025
Much like bad prose, his gormless suits draw far too much attention to themselves.
—Hazlitt, 19 Dec. 2024
Much of the movie unfolds inside the suburban Connecticut mansion where Lily lives with her gormless mother (Francie Swift) and her loathsome stepdad.
—Justin Chang, latimes.com, 8 Mar. 2018
Rhett Bartlett, HollywoodReporter, 17 Aug. 2025
There’s some droll humor in this pileup of bad decisions and bad behavior — particularly in one running gag that sees Carey doggedly befriending Ashley’s parade of exes, including one hilariously gormless f-boy played by drawling ensemble standout Charlie Gillespie.
—Guy Lodge, Variety, 19 May 2025
Much like bad prose, his gormless suits draw far too much attention to themselves.
—Hazlitt, 19 Dec. 2024
Much of the movie unfolds inside the suburban Connecticut mansion where Lily lives with her gormless mother (Francie Swift) and her loathsome stepdad.
—Justin Chang, latimes.com, 8 Mar. 2018
Recent Examples of Synonyms for gormless
Adjective
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The reigning Super Bowl champs better hope that’s the dumbest thing that one of their players does this season.—
Parker Gabriel,
Denver Post,
6 Sep. 2025
-
Sometimes, actors play a slightly dumber iteration of themselves; think James Van Der Beek in Don’t Trust the B in Apartment 23 and Liam Neeson in Life’s Too Short (a performance that got Neeson cast in this year’s The Naked Gun).—
Fran Hoepfner,
Vulture,
5 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
The recent rash of CEOs Gone Wild is arguably even stupider than commonplace fraud, and a troubling sign that there continues to be a slippery slope of accountability for C-Suite leadership.—
Ian Chaffee,
Fortune,
5 Sep. 2025
-
The accounts team logs in right on time, and the stupid dance of platitudes that precedes every meeting at every company around the world begins.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
5 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
Biden, who ended his bid for a second White House term 107 days before last year's election, has been relatively slow to move on presidential library planning compared with most of his recent predecessors.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
7 Sep. 2025
-
With Parkinson’s, doctors implant electrodes in the brain that produce electrical impulses to disrupt the abnormal signals that cause tremors, stiffness and slow movement.—
Jen Christensen,
CNN Money,
7 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
With just a few chairs, a handful of tables and a simple tent, the setting was intimate but filled with love and intention.—
Tereza Shkurtaj,
PEOPLE,
7 Sep. 2025
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And one of these, for those of us accustomed to British conventions but who follow the game in continental Europe, is the simple passage of time.—
Michael Cox,
New York Times,
6 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
Because of that, thick fire walls were installed throughout the plant's buildings.—
Eileen Falkenberg-Hull,
MSNBC Newsweek,
4 Sep. 2025
-
The air was damp and listless and the heat was something to wade through, thick as molasses.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
3 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
Horror of this scale has the effect of deadening words, making stories of the most unimaginable violence land with a dull thud.—
Jack Sheehan
September 4,
Literary Hub,
4 Sep. 2025
-
The water wasn’t quite as hot as the Braun, and the coffee was just a hair duller in taste.—
Noah Kaufman,
Bon Appetit Magazine,
4 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Gormless.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/gormless. Accessed 9 Sep. 2025.
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