UNINTELLIGENT Synonyms: 161 Similar and Opposite Words

unintelligent

adjective

ˌən-in-ˈte-lə-jənt

Definition of unintelligent

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

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 More and more people are avoiding dating or befriending those with opposing political views, and growing numbers describe those on the other side as closed-minded, dishonest, immoral and unintelligent. — Justin Callais, Chicago Tribune, 2 Mar. 2026 Still, Hassett called the report biased and unintelligent. — Jake Angelo, Fortune, 18 Feb. 2026 And not because people are unintelligent — quite the opposite. — Jj Rosen, Nashville Tennessean, 20 Nov. 2025 The life of an unattractive and unintelligent young woman living in a dreary backwater in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. — New York Times, 16 Oct. 2025 See All Example Sentences for unintelligent

Recent Examples of Synonyms for unintelligent

Adjective

The State’s humor is an interesting mixture of extremely dumb and self-aware.

— Michael Schulman, New Yorker, 5 July 2026
Mayhem comes to a coastal New England town in the form of a killer shark who hunts anybody dumb enough to get in the water.

— Brian Truitt, USA Today, 1 July 2026

Definition of dumb

Adjective

Even when Romanzy goes off on how stupid and ugly Caleb is — and gossips that his parents abandoned him because something must be wrong with him — Mary goes along with it.

— Maggie Fremont, Vulture, 11 July 2026
Shockingly, the letter seems to be pushing for a return to standardized tests by, in effect, arguing that a growing percentage of their students are simply too stupid to succeed, no matter what professors do.

— Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 8 July 2026

Definition of stupid

Adjective

Let’s hope that George Santayana’s warning to those ignorant of history about the past repeating itself makes an exception for our present Defense Department.

— Voice of the People, New York Daily News, 28 June 2026
And then there are amateur collectors like me, who might not know ironstone from porcelain, but whose last day on earth could be spent touching old objects in ignorant bliss.

— Jessica Sulima, Condé Nast Traveler, 28 June 2026

Definition of ignorant

Adjective

With the blessing and support of the Forest Service, the tribe began working to restore parts of its homeland — not as a shrubland, or thick conifer forest, but an open and free tapestry anchored by oaks.

— Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 9 July 2026
Big bluegills fight hard, and hauling them out of sunken trees or thick vegetation on light tackle takes real skill.

— Joe Cermele, Outdoor Life, 9 July 2026