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The irony of dunce lies in the fact that this synonym of dullard is derived from the name of one of the most brilliant thinkers of the Middle Ages, John Duns Scotus. So ingenious were the theological and metaphysical speculations of this thinker that he was given the name “the Subtle Doctor.” However, in the 16th century, his followers became a conservative element in English universities, and they tended to resist the new learning of humanism. As result, dunsman and the shortened form duns (later respelled as we have it today), became terms of scorn, meaning first “sophist” or “pedant” and gradually taking on the modern sense “slow-witted person.”
Synonyms
- airhead
- birdbrain
- blockhead
- bonehead
- bubblehead
- chowderhead
- chucklehead
- clodpoll
- clodpole
- clot [British]
- cluck
- clunk
- cretin
- cuddy [British dialect]
- cuddie
- deadhead
- dim bulb [slang]
- dimwit
- dip
- dodo
- dolt
- donkey
- doofus [slang]
- dope
- dork [slang]
- dullard
- dum-dum
- dumbbell
- dumbhead
- dummkopf
- dummy
- dunderhead
- fathead
- gander
- golem
- goof
- goon
- half-wit
- hammerhead
- hardhead
- idiot
- ignoramus
- imbecile
- jackass
- know-nothing
- knucklehead
- lamebrain
- loggerhead [chiefly dialect]
- loon
- lump
- lunkhead
- meathead
- mome [archaic]
- moron
- mug [chiefly British]
- mutt
- natural
- nimrod [slang]
- nincompoop
- ninny
- ninnyhammer
- nit [chiefly British]
- nitwit
- noddy
- noodle
- numskull
- numbskull
- oaf
- pinhead
- prat [British]
- ratbag [chiefly Australian]
- saphead
- schlub [slang]
- shlub
- schnook [slang]
- simpleton
- stock
- stupe
- stupid
- thickhead
- turkey
- woodenhead
- yahoo
- yo-yo
Examples of dunce in a Sentence
Word History
John Duns Scotus, whose once accepted writings were ridiculed in the 16th century
1567, in the meaning defined above
Phrases Containing dunce
Dictionary Entries Near dunce
Cite this Entry
“Dunce.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dunce. Accessed 29 Nov. 2024.
Kids Definition
dunce
nounan altered form of earlier duns, from the name John Duns Scotus 1266?–1308 a Scottish religious teacher whose writings came to be ridiculed in the 16th century
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