dim-bulb

See also: dimbulb and dim bulb

English

WOTD – 18 December 2018

Etymology

Probably a reference to the use of a light bulb in cartoons and comics to indicate that a person has had a bright idea.

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈdɪm ˌbʌlb/
Audio (AU) (file)

Adjective

dim-bulb (not comparable)

Slow-witted, stupid.
Synonyms: dim, dim-headed, dim-witted, dumb
- 1966 December 23, “Walt Disney: Images of Innocence [obituary]”, in Time‎, archived from the original on 30 April 2009:
  In Snow White [and the Seven Dwarfs], [Walt] Disney and his staff met the challenge of creating believable characters. Each of the seven dwarfs, from sober-sided Doc to dim-bulb Dopey, had a distinct personality.
- 1990, Joe Bob Briggs [pseudonym; John Irving Bloom], The Cosmic Wisdom of Joe Bob Briggs, New York, N.Y.: Random House, →ISBN, page 263:
  Up to now the guy's just a dim-bulb character who likes to dress up in a sailor suit and spoon creme broolay out of a bowl for a living.
- 2007, Chris Jennings Dixon, editor, Lesson Plans for Teaching Writing, Urbana, Ill.: National Council of Teachers of English, →ISBN, page 2:
  Well, long ago, a man named Aesop met a whole bunch of bossy, silly, funny, annoying, dim-bulb people, and he wanted to do something about it. He decided to write stories about these people, and end each story with a lesson […]
- 2017 October 27, Alex McLevy, “Making a Killing: The Brief Life and Bloody Death of the Post-Scream Slasher Revival”, in The A.V. Club‎, archived from the original on 5 March 2018:
  It’s harder to care about someone dying when you actively want them to disappear from the screen. And when the film itself proceeds so straightforwardly, and you know that even [Jennifer Love] Hewitt’s dim-bulb boyfriend (Freddie Prinze Jr.) will survive, much of the fun is lost.

Synonyms

See also Thesaurus:stupid

Antonyms

See Thesaurus:intelligent

Related terms

dim bulb, dimbulb (noun)

Translations

slow-witted, stupid — see stupid