as in dumb
not having or showing an ability to absorb ideas readily
you're not unintelligent, so you must just be stubbornly resisting all attempts to teach you something
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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 unintelligent
Google had to re-edit a Super Bowl ad for its artificial intelligence (AI) tool Gemini because the original ad had Gemini seeming artificially unintelligent.
—
Greg Cote, Miami Herald, 7 Feb. 2025
Growing shares in each party describe those in the other party as more closed-minded, dishonest, immoral and unintelligent than other Americans.
—NBC News, 22 Dec. 2024
In short: Wells assumed Neanderthals were unintelligent brutes.
—Byrd Pinkerton, Vox, 7 Dec. 2018
Participants hesitated almost three times as long to switch off an intelligent and agreeable robot (34.5 seconds) compared to an unintelligent and non agreeable robot (11.8 seconds).
—IEEE Spectrum, 31 Jan. 2013
See All Example Sentences for unintelligent
Greg Cote, Miami Herald, 7 Feb. 2025
Growing shares in each party describe those in the other party as more closed-minded, dishonest, immoral and unintelligent than other Americans.
—NBC News, 22 Dec. 2024
In short: Wells assumed Neanderthals were unintelligent brutes.
—Byrd Pinkerton, Vox, 7 Dec. 2018
Participants hesitated almost three times as long to switch off an intelligent and agreeable robot (34.5 seconds) compared to an unintelligent and non agreeable robot (11.8 seconds).
—IEEE Spectrum, 31 Jan. 2013
See All Example Sentences for unintelligent
Recent Examples of Synonyms for unintelligent
Adjective
-
So many of Black Rabbit’s subplots are confusing, boring, or dumb.—
Andrew Bernard,
The Washington Examiner,
3 Oct. 2025
-
Luis Jauregui, a professor at UC Irvine, is an expert in quantum physics who is smart enough to describe his work in terms that are foreign to a non-scientist, yet affable enough to explain it anyway, without making any non-scientist feel dumb.—
Andre Mouchard,
Oc Register,
28 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
The name-calling and the stupid AI and the imagery has got to stop.—
Joey Nolfi,
Entertainment Weekly,
30 Sep. 2025
-
These kids are being stupid and absurd and reckless and not thinking about anything other than what’s directly in front of their faces.—
Will Leitch,
New York Times,
30 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
The episodes feel choppy, hardly letting anything land, yet still feeling slow.—
Grace Byron,
Vulture,
6 Oct. 2025
-
The crowd, quietening into a slow clap with the moment building, burst into a celebration.—
Mitch Bannon,
New York Times,
5 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
Jared Jewelers Bulova Phantom Watch A watch is both practical and fashionable, and this style adds a touch of sparkle to simple outfits.—
Jacqueline Tempera,
PEOPLE,
4 Oct. 2025
-
Each year, as the temperature rises, the town’s regular population of around 300 swells with thousands of kids soaking up the simple pleasures of the great outdoors.—
Tara Massouleh McCay,
Southern Living,
4 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
So what will our ignorant commissioner do with the information?—
Edward Lotterman,
Twin Cities,
28 Sep. 2025
-
But criticism quickly began to pile in on Chinese social media, where users denounced the advertising stunt as ignorant of the potential environmental impacts in a remote and pristine ecosystem.—
Chris Lau,
CNN Money,
22 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
Some models suggest that K2-18b is a hycean world — an ocean planet with a thick atmosphere of hydrogen — and the signature of dimethyl sulfide was detected by the James Webb Space Telescope.—
Keith Cooper,
Space.com,
1 Oct. 2025
-
Its fabric is thick but not too heavy, according to reviewers, which is great for someone like me whose body temperature fluctuates constantly.—
Melody Kazel,
PEOPLE,
1 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Unintelligent.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unintelligent. Accessed 8 Oct. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share