Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Stupidity |
StupidityNoun1. A poor ability to understand or to profit from experience. 2. A stupid mistake. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "stupidity" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1050. (references) |
Synonyms: StupiditySynonyms: betise (n), folly (n), foolishness (n), imbecility (n). (additional references) |
| Antonym: intelligence (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Dullness | Noun: dullness, heaviness, flatness; infestivity ; stupidity; want of originality; dearth of ideas. |
Imbecility Folly | Noun: want of -intelligence; want of -intellect; shadowness, silliness, foolishness; Adjective: imbecility, incapacity, vacancy of mind, poverty of intellect, weakness of intellect, clouded perception, poor head, apartments to let; stupidity, stolidity; hebetude, dull understanding, meanest capacity, shortsightedness; incompetence; (unskillfulness). |
Unskillfulness | Folly, stupidity; indiscretion; (rashness); thoughtlessness; (inattention) (neglect); sabotage. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Stupidity |
| English words defined with "stupidity": Addle-patedness, anserine, Asininity ♦ Blockheadism, Brutism ♦ dopey, dopy, Duncery ♦ fool, foolish ♦ gooselike, goosey, goosy ♦ Insipience, Insulsity ♦ livid ♦ Morosis ♦ Pig-headed ♦ sheepish, sheeplike ♦ To blunder on, Torpescence ♦ Woodenness. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "stupidity": Abderitan ♦ bozotic, brain-dead ♦ EARLY ♦ Fine Writing ♦ gumby ♦ Hanlon's Razor ♦ naive user ♦ rascality ♦ salescritter ♦ Walcheren Expedition, Weeble. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "stupidity": Dullness. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | You're protected by the enormity of your stupidity, for a time (Notorious; writing credit: Ben Hecht) Dammit, woman, if you don't get out of this car and go to your kid, I'm going to have you arrested for stupidity. (Double Jeopardy; writing credit: David Weisberg; Douglas Cook) Throw yourself in next time, and rid us of your stupidity! (The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring; writing credit: Frances Walsh) Your stupidity may be your one saving grace (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels; writing credit: Guy Ritchie) You just bought yourself a 417, pointing out police stupidity. Or is that a 413? No, a 413 is a dog, and um you're in trouble, pal (The Simpsons; writing credit: Artur Brauner; Paul Hengge) | |
Clever | Stupidity is NOT a handicap! PARK ELSEWHERE! (references; author: unknown) Artificial Intelligence is no match for Natural Stupidity! (references; author: unknown) | |
Movie/TV Titles | ||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
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Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. | Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity. |
Elbert Hubbard | Genius may have its limitations, but stupidity is not thus handicapped. |
Friedrich Nietzsche | To forget one's purpose is the commonest form of stupidity. |
Gustave Flaubert | Earth has its boundaries but human stupidity is limitless. |
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe | Stupidity is without anxiety. |
Michel Eyquem de Montaigne | A little folly is desirable in him that will not be guilty of stupidity. |
Oliver Wendell Holmes | Stupidity often saves a man from going mad. |
Paul Gauguin | We never really know what stupidity is until we have experimented on ourselves. |
Ralph Waldo Emerson | The stupidity of men always invites the insolence of power. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | Mademoiselle Vaubois, perfect in her kind, was the ermine of stupidity without a single stain of intelligence |
Time Enough for Love | Robert Heinlein | Never underestimate the power of human stupidity. |
Walden | Thoreau, Henry David | As if there were safety in stupidity alone |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | RASCALITY, n. Stupidity militant. The activity of a clouded intellect. |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Stupidity" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Stupidity" is used about 303 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 100% | 303 | 16,643 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following table summarizes names derived from the word "stupidity". | |||
| Name | Gender | Language | Meaning |
| Narcissus | N/A | Biblical | Stupidity |
| Narcissa | N/A | English | Stupidity |
| Narcisse | N/A | French | Stupidity |
| Narciso | N/A | Italian | Stupidity |
| Narciso | N/A | Portuguese | Stupidity |
| Narcisa | N/A | Romanian | Stupidity |
| Narciso | N/A | Spanish | Stupidity |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references.
| |||
Expression using "stupidity": affect stupidity. Additional references. | |
| Hypenated Usage | |
Ending with "stupidity": pop-stupidity. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "stupidity"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | trashëri (corpulence, embonpoint, thickness), punë pa mend (Folly, puerility), marrëzi (amentia, fatuity, fatuousness, Folly, foolishness, ineptitude, insanity, lunacy, madness, nonsense, silliness, tomfoolery), idiotësi (idiocy, ineptitude), gomarllëk (foolishness, nonsense, rubbish). (various references) | |
Arabic | فكرة بلهاء, كلام بذىء (ribaldry, smut), حماقة (blindness, brainlessness, brutishness, crap, doltishness, dumbness, emptiness, fatuity, fatuousness, fat-wittedness, feeblemindedness, folly, foolery, gaffe, hankey-pankey, hanky panky, idiocy, imbecility, insanity, nonsense, rot, silliness, thick-wittedness, tomfoolery, unwisdom, weak-mindedness), غباء (folly, foolishness, opacity, thickness), جهل (blindness, darkness, ignorance, innocence, pass, unacquaintance, unawareness), رعونة (lameness), بلاهة (brainlessness, density, dullness, idiocy, imbecility, retardation, rot, silliness), بلادة (dullness, lethargy, sluggishness, torpidity, torpor). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | тъпота (bluntness, crassitude, density, dullness, obtuseness, opacity, purblindness, stolidity, torpidity, torpor), глупост (density, fatuity, fatuousness, fiddlestick, foolishness, foppery, hokum, inanity, ineptitude, insanity, nonsense, puerility, silliness, simplicity, stupidness, thick skull, trash, unreason, unwisdom). (various references) | |
Chinese | 愚 (follies, FOLLY, foolish, Stupidness). (various references) | |
Czech | pitomost (balls, boob, idiocy, stuff), hloupost (dullness, fatuity, fatuousness, foolishness, garbage, ineptitude, ineptness, lunacy, silliness, simplicity, trifle), blbost (balls, bull, bunk, crap, garbage). (various references) | |
Danish | stupiditet. (various references) | |
Dutch | stupiditeit (hebetude), stupiditas (hebetude), stompzinnigheid (hebetude, mental dullness). (various references) | |
Farsi | کندذهنی (Stupor, Unintelligence), حماقت (Idiocy, Idiotism, Unreason), بیهوشی (Anaesthesia, Anesthesia, Stupefaction, Syncope, Trance), بی علاقگی (Apathy, Indifference, Lethargy, Unconcern). (various references) | |
Finnish | typeryys (foolishness), tyhmyys (folly, foolishness, silliness). (various references) | |
French | stupidité. (various references) | |
German | Dummheit (brutishness, denseness, dullness, foolery, foolishness, gabbiness, greenness, idiocy, inanity, misstep, nonsense, oafishness, obtuseness, silliness, thickness, witlessness). (various references) | |
Greek | κουταμάρα (nonsense), σαχλαμάρα (bosh, bunk, foolery, idiocy, mush, platitude, trifle), βλακεία (fatuity, foolishness, goofiness, idiocy, muff, nonsense, sheepishness, silliness, stupidness, tomfoolery), χαζομάρα, ηλιθιότησ (cretinism, gawkiness, idiocy, imbecility, stupidness, tomfoolery), ηλιθιότητα (cretinism, fatuousness, gawkiness, idiocy, imbecility, oafishness, stupidness, tomfoolery). (various references) | |
Hebrew | אוילות (fatuity, fatuously, fatuousness, foolery, foolishness, silliness, sottishness), כסילות (foolishness), בערות (ignorance, illiteracy, obscurantism), בער (burn, ignorant, stupid), טמטום "מוח (idiocy), טמטום (dulling, lubberliness, muddleheadedness, stupefaction), טפשות (foolery, inanity, silliness, tomfoolery), סכלות (foolishness), סכל (foolish, foolishness). (various references) | |
Hungarian | hülyeség (bosh, crap, idiocy, imbecility, nonsense, rot). (various references) | |
Indonesian | kegoblokan (folly), kegilaan (folly, insanity, lunacy, madness, mania, psychosis), kedunguan (imbecility), kebegoan (foolishness). (various references) | |
Italian | stupidit (density, fool, foolishness, hebetude, silliness), ocaggine (asininely, ineptitude, oafishness, silliness, stupid thing, tomfoolery). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 鈍才 (dull person, dullness), 愚鈍 (silliness), 愚劣 (foolishness, silliness). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | お"のさた (absurdity, impertinence, presumption), ぐど" (silliness), ぐれつ (foolishness, silliness), しゅしゅ (lack of innovation), まぬけ (blockhead, dunce, idiot), うかつ (carelessness), ぶま (blunder, clumsiness), ど"さい (dull person, dullness), あまくち (flattery, mildness, sweet flavour), ろど" (imbecility), むち (ignorance, shameless, stick, whip), やぼて" (boorishness, coarseness), ちど" (dullness, dull-witted). (various references) | |
Korean | 어리석음 (Stupidness). (various references) | |
Manx | bouyranys (abstraction, abstraction of mind), bolvaneys (foolishness). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | upiditystay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | patetice (bunkum, fiddlestick, foolishness, tomfoolery), imbecilidade (fatuity, idiocy, imbecility, weakness), idiotice (silliness, tommy rot), estupidez (density, fatuity, idiocy, imbecility, silliness), asneira (bilge, rigmarole, rot, stupid thing). (various references) | |
Romanian | stupiditate (crassitude, density, foolishness, inanity, inaptitude, ineptitude, obtuseness, obtusity), tâmpenie (idiocy, imbecility, madness), prostie (bosh, fatuity, Folly, foolery, foolishness, fudge, idiocy, ineptitude, lumpishness, madness, mischief, oafishness, obtuseness, obtusity, piffle, senseless remark, silly thing, simplicity, tomfoolery), nesãbuinţã (recklessness), nerozie (innocence, oafishness), imbecilitate (idiocy, imbecility, silliness), gogomãnie, dobitocie (dullness, rot), amorţealã (drowsiness, heaviness, numbness, somnolence, somnolency, stupor, torpidity, torpidness, torpor, weakness), absurditate (absurdity, blue dahlia, fallacy, foolishness, ineptitude, irrationality, nonsense, unreason, unreasonableness), abrutizare (brutalization). (various references) | |
Russian | тупость (bluntness, dullness, hebetude, obtuseness, opaqueness, woodenness), глупость (asininity, crassitude, craziness, density, fatuity, fatuousness, folly, foolery, foolishness, imbecility, inanity, long ears, piffle, silliness, unreason, unwisdom, witlessness). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | glupost (flapdoodle, folly, foolishness, poppycock, silliness, tomfoolery), glupavost. (various references) | |
Spanish | estupidez (dullness, dumbness, foolishness, idiocy, obtuseness). (various references) | |
Swedish | dumhet (density, fatuity, folly, imbecility, inanity, opaqueness). (various references) | |
Turkish | sersemlik (daze, dizziness, dullness, fuddle, giddiness, muddle, silliness, stupor), aptallık (crime, fatuity, floater, Folly, foolery, fooling, foolishness, footle, hebetude, idiocy, ineptitude, silliness), aptalca hareket, akılsızlık (absurdness, fatuity, fatuousness, imprudence, unreason, unwisdom, vacancy), ahmaklık (crassness, density, fooling, foolishness, footle, idiocy, imbecility, inanity). (various references) | |
Turkmen | яeсilkellelik (vapidity), keзjelik (incoherence), akylsyzlyk, akmaklyk. (various references) | |
Ukrainian | дурість (asininity, fatuity, foolishness, idiocy, imbecility, obtuseness, obtusity, opaqueness, sheepishness, silliness). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | sự ngu dại (senselessness), sự ngu đần (doltishness, dullness, dulness), sự ngớ ngẩn trạng thái ngẩn người, sự đần độn (amentia, crassitude, doltishness, hebetude, purblindness), trạng thái ngây ra, trạng thái mụ đi. (various references) | |
Welsh | hurtrwydd. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | amentia, amentiam, stultitia, stultitiae, stultitiam, stupor, stupore, stuporem, stuporis. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Misspellings | |
"Stupidity" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: stupiddity. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "stupidity" (pronounced stuwpi"dutē) |
| 6 | -p i" d u t ē | rapidity. |
| 5 | -i" d u t ē | acidity, fluidity, humidity, illiquidity, liquidity, lividity, morbidity, rigidity, solidity, superfluidity, timidity, turbidity, validity. |
| 4 | -d u t ē | absurdity, commodity, heredity, nudity, oddity. |
| 3 | -u t ē | acceptability, accessibility, ability, abnormality, accountability, activity, actuality, acuity, adaptability, admissibility, adversity, advisability, affinity, affordability, aggressivity, agility, alacrity, alkalinity, ambiguity, amenity, amiability, amity, analyticity, animosity, annuity, anonymity, antiquity, anxiety, applicability, atrocity, audacity, austerity, authenticity, authority, availability, banality, barbarity, believability, bestiality, biodiversity, bisexuality, brevity, brutality, calamity, capability, capacity, captivity, causality, cavity, celebrity, centrality, charity, chastity, civility, clarity, collegiality, commonality, community, comparability, compatibility, complexity, complicity, comprehensibility, conditionality, conductivity, confidentiality, conformity, congeniality, congruity, connectivity, constitutionality, continuity, convertibility, creativity, credibility, credulity, criminality, criticality, crotchety, culpability, curiosity, cyclicality, debility, deductibility, deformity, deity, deniability, density, dependability, depravity, deputy, desirability, dexterity, dignity, dimensionality, disability, discontinuity, irresponsibility, irritability, laity, laxity, legality, disparity, dissimilarity, disunity, diversity, divinity, docility, domesticity, duality, ductility, duplicity, durability, eccentricity, elasticity, electability, electricity, eligibility, enforceability, enmity, enormity, entity, equality, equanimity, equity, eternity, ethnicity, eventuality, exclusivity, expressivity, extraterritoriality, extremity, facility, fallibility, falsity, familiarity, fatality, feasibility, Felicity, femininity, ferocity, fertility, festivity, fidelity, finality, flammability, flexibility, formality, fragility, fraternity, frivolity, frugality, functionality, futility, generality, generosity, geniality, gentility, gratuity, gravity, gullibility, heterogeneity, heterosexuality, hilarity, homogeneity, homosexuality, hospitality, hostility, humanity, humility, hyperactivity, hypersensitivity, identity, illegality, immaturity, immobility, immorality, immortality, immunity, impartiality, impersonality, impossibility, impropriety, impunity, impurity, inability, inaccessibility, inactivity, incapacity, incivility, incompatibility, incongruity, incredulity, indemnity, indestructibility, indignity, individuality, inequality, inequity, inevitability, infallibility, inferiority, infertility, infidelity, infinity, infirmity, inflexibility, informality, ingenuity, inhumanity, insanity, insecurity, insensitivity, instability, instrumentality, insularity, integrity, intensity, invincibility, invisibility, invulnerability, irrationality, irregularity, legibility, lethality, levity, liability, liberality, locality, longevity, majority, malleability, maneuverability, marketability, masculinity, materiality, maternity, maturity, mediocrity, mendacity, mentality, minority, miscibility, mobility, modality, modernity, monstrosity, morality, mortality, motility, multiplicity, municipality, musicality, mutuality, nationality, nativity, necessity, negativity, neutrality, nobility, Nonconformity, nonentity, nonutility, normality, notoriety, obesity, objectivity, obscenity, obscurity, opacity, opportunity, originality, overcapacity, oversensitivity, palatability, parity, partiality, particularity, passivity, paternity, paucity, peculiarity, permeability, perpetuity, perplexity, personality, perversity, piety, plausibility, plurality, polarity, polity, pomposity, popularity, portability, possibility, posterity, practicality, predictability, principality, priority, probability, probity, proclivity, productivity, profanity, profitability, progressivity, promiscuity, propensity, proportionality, propriety, prosperity, proximity, publicity, punctuality, purity, quality, quantity, radioactivity, rarity, rationality, reactivity, readability, reality, receptivity, reciprocity, reflexivity, regularity, relativity, reliability, religiosity, respectability, responsibility, retroactivity, rickety, salinity, sanctity, sanity, scarcity, seasonality, security, selectivity, senility, seniority, sensibility, sensitivity, sensuality, sentimentality, serendipity, serenity, severity, sexuality, similarity, simplicity, sincerity, sobriety, society, solemnity, solidarity, sorority, speciality, specificity, spirituality, spontaneity, stability, sterility, subjectivity, suitability, superconductivity, superiority, supermajority, surety, survivability, susceptibility, sustainability, technicality, temerity, tenacity, theatricality, tonality, totality, toxicity, tranquility, transferability, Trinity, triviality, ubiquity, unanimity, unavailability, unfamiliarity, uniformity, unity, universality, university, unpopularity, unpredictability, unreality, unreliability, uppity, utility, vanity, variability, variety, varsity, velocity, velvety, venality, veracity, Verity, versatility, viability, vicinity, virginity, virility, virtuosity, viscosity, visibility, vitality, volatility, voracity, vulgarity, vulnerability. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "d-i-i-p-s-t-t-u-y" | |
-1 letter: tidytips. | |
-3 letters: stupid, typist. | |
-4 letters: ditsy, ditty, duits, dusty, putti, putts, putty, situp, study, tipis, tipsy, titis. | |
-5 letters: dips, dipt, dits, duit, dups, dust, duty, pits, pity, puds, puts, putt, spit, spud, stud, suit, tidy, tipi, tips, titi, tuis, tups, tuts, yids, yips, yups. | |
| Words containing the letters "d-i-i-p-s-t-t-u-y" | |
+5 letters: disputatiously. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Quotations: Familiar 7. Quotations: Fiction 8. Quotations: Non-fiction | 9. Usage Frequency 10. Names: Derived from 11. Expressions 12. Expressions: Internet | 13. Translations: Modern 14. Translations: Ancient 15. Derivations 16. Rhymes | 17. Anagrams 18. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
