Dumb Laws in North Carolina: The Shocking Truth Behind the Headlines - Away State Journal
stupid, dull, dense, crass, dumb mean lacking in power to absorb ideas or impressions. stupid implies a slow-witted or dazed state of mind that may be either congenital or temporary.
Don’t say anything – just act / play dumb (= pretend to be stupid or not to know something).
Adjective dumb (comparative dumber, superlative dumbest) (dated) Unable to speak; lacking power of speech. Synonyms: mute, speechless, wordless deaf, dumb, and blind (set phrase) His younger brother was born dumb, and communicated with sign language.
dumb (dʌm) adj. -er, -est, v. usage: dumb in the sense “lacking the power of speech” is offensive when applied to humans (but not animals), probably because the word also means “stupid; dull-witted.”
Definition of dumb adjective in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.
Dumb, mute, speechless, voiceless describe a condition in which speech is absent. Dumb was formerly used to refer to persons unable to speak; it is now used almost entirely of the inability of animals to speak: dumb beasts of the field.
Destitute of the power of speech; unable to utter articulate sounds: as, a deaf and dumb person; the dumb brutes. Mute; not accompanied with or emitting speech or sound: as, a dumb show; dumb signs.
DUMB definition: lacking intelligence or good judgment; stupid; dull-witted. See examples of dumb used in a sentence.
Dumb is the Old English word that means "mute, speechless," and itself came from an even older word dheubh meaning "confusion, stupefaction, dizziness." Today, dumb still means "unable to speak," but it doesn't have anything to do with intelligence.
