stupidity
nounUK /stjuːˈpɪdɪti/ · US /stuˈpɪdɪti/
Etymology From Latin stupiditātem, accusative of Latin stupiditās, equivalent to stupid + -ity.
1
The property of being stupid.
- I suppose you can put it down to gross stupidity, but that's not much of an excuse.
- And Vickers launched forth into a tirade very different from his platform utterances. He spoke with extreme contempt of the dense stupidity exhibited on all occasions by the working classes. He said that if you wanted to do anything for them, you must rule them, not pamper them. Soft heartedness caused more harm than good.1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XIII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
2
An act that is stupid.
- Jimmy's stupidity cost him his car.
- 8. They require that crass stupidities shall not be played upon the reader as “the craft of the woodsman, the delicate art of the forest,” by either the author or the people in the tale.1895 July, Mark Twain, “Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses”, in North American Review:
- Synonyms
- dumbness, idiocy, schmuckiness, stupidicy, unintelligence
- Antonyms
- intelligence
- Derived terms
- artificial stupidity, natural stupidity, stupidity tax