idiot box

noun

Definition of idiot boxnext
as in TV
an electronic device with a screen and speakers that reproduces images and sound she declared that she wouldn't have an idiot box in her home

Synonyms & Similar Words

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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 idiot box Writers strove to position themselves as more cynical than the idiot box that knew itself to be an idiot box. — Lauren Michele Jackson, The New Yorker, 27 Feb. 2025 All that, somehow, without Truman himself ever switching on the idiot box. — Armond White, National Review, 2 Aug. 2023 But the idiot box has also inspired arguably his worst projects, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and The Newsroom, sanctimonious and stupefyingly self-serious accounts of the woes of content creation. — Jason Bailey, Vulture, 21 Dec. 2021 All those childhood years in front of the idiot box could now be considered research — a lifetime of training, cleverly disguised as sloth. — Washington Post, 29 Dec. 2020
Recent Examples of Synonyms for idiot box
  1. TV
  2. television
Noun
  • The boy was spotted sitting on his own at a hut about 8,200 feet (2,500 meters) above sea level – slightly more than halfway up the country’s tallest mountain – by a worker on Thursday, according to CNN’s affiliate TV Asahi.
    — Chris Lau, CNN Money, 23 Aug. 2026
  • Prior to his time with the Rockets, Strantz served as corporate counsel for Sling TV and served as an associate attorney at Baker Donelson in Memphis for five-plus years.
    — Gary Bedore, Kansas City Star, 22 Aug. 2026
Definition of TV
Noun
  • Always unassuming, sitting in the back of the room — but often the smartest person in the room — Saftler became known as the guy who can predict the future of television, constantly analyzing industry trends to figure out what would come next.
    — Nellie Andreeva, Deadline, 20 Aug. 2026
  • The show’s colossal success helped create the model still in play 33 years later for outsourcing movie and television production to regions where tax incentives are higher and production costs are lower.
    — Stacy Perman, Los Angeles Times, 20 Aug. 2026
Definition of television

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idiot box
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Cite this Entry

“Idiot box.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/idiot%20box. Accessed 27 Aug. 2026.

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