idiot box

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 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
  • So like, dad TV is a new thing.
    Wesley Stenzel, Entertainment Weekly, 28 Sep. 2025
  • Spanberger addressed the issues of trans women participating in women’s sports, as well as using female bathrooms, in an interview with WSET-TV in Roanoke.
    Julia Manchester, The Hill, 28 Sep. 2025
Noun
  • The author had found that the paranormal romance genre, both on television and in books, has historically relegated Black girls to lesser roles that usually end badly for them.
    Dan Kelly, Kansas City Star, 29 Sep. 2025
  • Film and television production in recent years has been decamping from Hollywood to shoot in locations that offer lucrative tax incentives, like the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, which makes filming less expensive.
    Rebecca Rubin, Variety, 29 Sep. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Idiot box.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/idiot%20box. Accessed 30 Sep. 2025.

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