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
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of unintelligent
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
But the gullible, easily-led and unintelligent — and the media — all fall for the lie.
—Paul Bedard, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 2 Nov. 2024
Both of these insults are based on racist stereotypes (the lazy trope and the unintelligent trope) that have been weaponized against Black people throughout history.
—Janice Gassam Asare, Forbes, 23 Oct. 2024
See All Example Sentences for unintelligent
NBC News, 22 Dec. 2024
In short: Wells assumed Neanderthals were unintelligent brutes.
—Byrd Pinkerton, Vox, 7 Dec. 2018
But the gullible, easily-led and unintelligent — and the media — all fall for the lie.
—Paul Bedard, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 2 Nov. 2024
Both of these insults are based on racist stereotypes (the lazy trope and the unintelligent trope) that have been weaponized against Black people throughout history.
—Janice Gassam Asare, Forbes, 23 Oct. 2024
See All Example Sentences for unintelligent
Recent Examples of Synonyms for unintelligent
Adjective
-
Ratajkowski has been fighting the stereotype of the dumb model from the beginning of her career.—
Daniel Jackson,
Allure,
18 July 2017
-
Ninety nine percent of all NFL players are explicitly not dumb.—
Andy Benoit,
The MMQB,
10 July 2017
Adjective
-
Mexican men were dismissed as violent Panchos and stupid Pedros.—
Gustavo Arellano,
Los Angeles Times,
24 June 2025
-
There’s more stupid romance around harder substances but few chemicals are more hazardous to ambition than THC.—
Benjamin Hale
June 23,
Literary Hub,
23 June 2025
Adjective
-
The music is, for the most part, quiet and slow, often hovering at the edge of silence.—
Alex Ross,
New Yorker,
23 June 2025
-
Repeated waxing weakens follicles, making hair grow in finer and slower over time.—
Nia Bowers,
USA Today,
23 June 2025
Adjective
-
The simplest ideas in mathematics can also be the most perplexing.—
Leila Sloman,
Wired News,
29 June 2025
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When the drink is this simple, there’s nowhere for sub-par ingredients to hide.—
Jason O'Bryan,
Robb Report,
28 June 2025
Adjective
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The former Fox host Tucker Carlson, who opposed such an operation, sparred with two boosters: the current Fox host Mark Levin, and the Republican senator Ted Cruz, whom Carlson revealed to be ignorant of basic facts about Iran in a clip that went viral.—
Jon Allsop,
New Yorker,
27 June 2025
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Maybe LLMs get us 80% of the way there without any oversight, but skipping the context and being completely ignorant of what the machine is doing is typically not a good idea, partly for the reasons that the panelists laid out.—
John Werner,
Forbes.com,
19 June 2025
Adjective
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Lots of Rules, Lots of Cash Rules governing property and building codes are thick and can be incomprehensible to most homeowners.—
Andrew Wimer,
Forbes.com,
30 June 2025
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Still the aftertaste of raspberry filling clings to her soft palate, as thick and heady and floral as menstrual blood.—
Carly Tagen-Dye,
People.com,
30 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Unintelligent.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unintelligent. Accessed 6 Jul. 2025.
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