as in idiot
a stupid person
only an imbecile would leave their car unlocked, with the keys in the ignition, and then be surprised when the vehicle was stolen
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
variants
or imbecilic
as in idiotic
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of imbecile
Literary Hub, 30 Mar. 2026
Insulting this imbecile became the most rewarding pastime on earth.
—Rosa Lyster, Harpers Magazine, 30 Dec. 2025
Evil is insolent and strong; beauty enchanting but rare; goodness very apt to be weak; folly very apt to be defiant; wickedness to carry the day; imbeciles to be in great places, people of sense in small, and mankind generally unhappy.
—Sam Sacks, WSJ, 18 Nov. 2016
Hard to accept that these imbeciles represent the people in our government.
—Kelefa Sanneh, The New Yorker, 5 Feb. 2016
Jessica Winter, New Yorker, 7 May 2026
Noun
If the eventual outcome hadn’t been so tragic, and if one of the people involved hadn’t been an absolute imbecile, and if there hadn’t been a dearth of actual romance, their meeting would have made for good romantic fiction.
—Literary Hub, 30 Mar. 2026
Insulting this imbecile became the most rewarding pastime on earth.
—Rosa Lyster, Harpers Magazine, 30 Dec. 2025
Evil is insolent and strong; beauty enchanting but rare; goodness very apt to be weak; folly very apt to be defiant; wickedness to carry the day; imbeciles to be in great places, people of sense in small, and mankind generally unhappy.
—Sam Sacks, WSJ, 18 Nov. 2016
Hard to accept that these imbeciles represent the people in our government.
—Kelefa Sanneh, The New Yorker, 5 Feb. 2016
Adjective
Prep school was one such imbecile society.
—Jessica Winter, New Yorker, 7 May 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for imbecile
Adjective
-
But his whole plan was really damaged by his idiotic attack against the leadership of Hamas in Qatar, because that caused Trump to pressure him to end the war.—
Isaac Chotiner,
New Yorker,
19 May 2026
-
Covering politics today is a grim dance between the vicious and the idiotic, between repulsion and despair.—
Megan McArdle,
Washington Post,
10 May 2026
Noun
-
Lluís then calls Puig Antich a moron.—
Colm Tóibín,
The Atlantic,
14 Mar. 2026
-
This drunk moron — quite different from his character in the novel — bears a ton of blame.—
Roxana Hadadi,
Vulture,
13 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
Nate Bargatze is not a dumb guy.—
David Fear,
Rolling Stone,
28 May 2026
-
And what is dumber than a fart?—
Derek Lawrence,
Entertainment Weekly,
28 May 2026
Noun
-
My dad has always said the lottery is a tax on the stupid.—
Alex Crippen,
CNBC,
4 Apr. 2026
-
The scale of the headloss was best summed up by Luis Suarez attempting to reason with Messi, before the Argentine did anything on the Suarez scale of stupid.—
Phil Hay,
New York Times,
23 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
Garrincha was characterised as childish and moronic in psychological tests commissioned by the Brazilian federation before that tournament in Sweden and was then left out of their first two games.—
Jack Lang,
New York Times,
28 May 2026
-
His moronic tariffs continue to blow up in his face, spiking inflation and getting zero concessions from China.—
Voice of the People,
New York Daily News,
25 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
If the target was foolish enough to reuse passwords, credential thefts like these could enable the compromise of more important accounts.—
Rob Pegoraro,
PC Magazine,
3 June 2026
-
Backing the Cubs right now seems foolish.—
David Troy OutKick,
FOXNews.com,
27 May 2026
Adjective
-
Our former swing state now has become a red state through and through thanks largely to the new congressional districts which are stretched to inane proportions.—
Ann Marie Luft,
The Orlando Sentinel,
14 May 2026
-
Still, even as the memes become borderline unintelligible, Kirkslop contains an air of transgression that imbues the otherwise inane edits and images with perverse political undercurrents.—
Brady Brickner-Wood,
New Yorker,
29 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
Given some of Trump’s most problematic remarks about Ukraine, this hope may not have been completely fatuous.—
Daniel Fried,
Time,
24 Oct. 2025
-
The fatuous Fed/1930s narrative raises a basic question: why are successful investors paid so well?—
John Tamny,
Forbes.com,
22 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Imbecile.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/imbecile. Accessed 6 Jun. 2026.
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