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
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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
Column: Streamers profited when ‘the idiot box’ became art.
—
Mary McNamara,
Los Angeles Times,
11 Jan. 2024
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
Lauren Michele Jackson,
The New Yorker,
27 Feb. 2025
Column: Streamers profited when ‘the idiot box’ became art.
—
Mary McNamara,
Los Angeles Times,
11 Jan. 2024
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
Noun
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Over its five decades in Edinburgh the TV festival, which is organized by charitable organization The TV Foundation, has become one of the key industry events in the TV calendar, alongside Mipcom and London Screenings.
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This came following feedback and a review amid complaints over affordability, with accommodation costs in Edinburgh hugely expensive in August due to the Edinburgh Fringe, which takes place simultaneous to the TV Festival.
Noun
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JioHotstar’s Bharath Ram cited nearly 100 million connected televisions in India as context for the platform’s accelerating CTV push, while Soni said YouTube now reaches more than 75 million Indian adults aged 18 and above on connected TV screens.
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Those are the shows that shaped decades of television output, for the most part emulated but never equaled.
Cite this Entry
“Idiot box.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/idiot%20box. Accessed 26 Jun. 2026.
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