idiocy
English
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From French idiotie, from Old French idiot. Displaced earlier idiotacy, idiotry. Equivalent to idiot + -cy.
Pronunciation
[edit]- IPA(key): /ˈɪdi.əsi/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
Noun
[edit]idiocy (countable and uncountable, plural idiocies)
- (dated, psychology, now derogatory) The state or condition of being an idiot; the quality of having an intelligence level far below average; mental retardation; intellectual disability.
- (uncountable) Lack of intelligence or sense; extremely foolish behaviour.
- Synonyms: imbecility, stupidity
- The administrators, growing tired of such idiocy, put a new policy in place.
- (countable) An idiotic act or utterance.
- The list of his idiocies is seemingly interminable.
Synonyms
[edit]- idiocity (nonstandard)
- idiotacy (nonstandard)
- idiotcy (dated)
- idiotery (nonstandard, rare)
- idioticalness (rare)
- idioticity (nonstandard)
- idioticness (rare)
- idioticy (nonstandard)
- idiotness (rare)
- idiotry (obsolete)
Derived terms
[edit]Related terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]state of being an idiot
|
extremely foolish behaviour
References
[edit]- “idiocy”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
Anagrams
[edit]Categories:
- English terms derived from French
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms suffixed with -cy
- English 4-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- English dated terms
- en:Psychology
- English derogatory terms
- English terms with usage examples