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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Recent Examples of unintelligent
Even today, there are many settings in which the Christian faith is considered absurd, meant for the weak and unintelligent.
—
Daniel Burke, NPR, 9 May 2025
The show and its participants were even parodied on Saturday Night Live in January, with comedian Ego Nwodim playing Amuli, and other cast members mocking people’s poor conversation skills and unintelligent dating decisions.
—Ct Jones, Rolling Stone, 10 Apr. 2025
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
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
Daniel Burke, NPR, 9 May 2025
The show and its participants were even parodied on Saturday Night Live in January, with comedian Ego Nwodim playing Amuli, and other cast members mocking people’s poor conversation skills and unintelligent dating decisions.
—Ct Jones, Rolling Stone, 10 Apr. 2025
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
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
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Okay, there's trying something new and then there's just being dumb.—
Samantha Highfill,
Entertainment Weekly,
12 Jan. 2026
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Why portray Dorothy as a doe-eyed ding-a-ling; as not just naive but dumb?—
Lili Anolik,
Vanity Fair,
12 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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For a free-market type, Magness implies here that markets are quite stupid.—
John Tamny,
Forbes.com,
18 Jan. 2026
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Protecting his naive and stupid friend.—
Gwen Faulkenberry,
Arkansas Online,
18 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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The Commission, the EU’s executive arm, has decided that the pace of EV sales is far too slow and has proposed a new category of small and seriously affordable cars.—
Neil Winton,
Forbes.com,
24 Jan. 2026
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States and cities that have loosened building constraints are already seeing slower rent growth compared to heavily regulated markets.—
J.D. Hayworth,
Boston Herald,
24 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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Even as Trump looks to boost American hydrocarbon profits in Venezuela, the gas tap for Europe is a simple – and likely effective – tool that could be used as leverage by the White House.—
Clare Sebastian,
CNN Money,
22 Jan. 2026
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Brooklyn Councilmember Lincoln Restler participated in a double red blood cell donation, calling it a simple but powerful way to help others.—
Hannah Kliger,
CBS News,
22 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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We’d be laughed at and called ignorant boors!—
Voice of the People,
New York Daily News,
24 Jan. 2026
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Dunk isn’t ignorant of what doing the right thing could cost him.—
Ben Travers,
IndieWire,
13 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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What remains, the thick, black, and dense oil, required special techniques to be brought to the surface.—
Scott Montgomery,
Forbes.com,
25 Jan. 2026
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As a Boston native, Stone’s accent is thicker than chowdah, bless her, with a laugh that lilts like a fly ball onto Lansdowne Street.—
Sean Keeler,
Denver Post,
25 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Unintelligent.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unintelligent. Accessed 28 Jan. 2026.
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