idiocy

[ id-ee-uh-see ]
See synonyms for idiocy on Thesaurus.com
noun,plural id·i·o·cies.
  1. utterly senseless or foolish behavior; a stupid or foolish act, statement, etc.: All this talk of zombies coming to attack us is pure idiocy.

  2. Psychology. (no longer in technical use; considered offensive) an intellectual disability, previously classified in a now obsolete rubric of developmental disorders as having a mental age of less than three years old and an intelligence quotient under 25.

Origin of idiocy

1
First recorded in 1520–30; from Medieval Latin idiotia “imbecility,” from Hellenistic Greek idiōteía “uncouthness, ignorance,” Greek “state of being a private person”; see origin at idiot, -cy

Other words for idiocy

Words Nearby idiocy

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use idiocy in a sentence

  • To this day Jean Kostka does not seem conscious of any element of idiocy in the variation of the old-fashioned name.

    Devil-Worship in France | Arthur Edward Waite
  • Inexhaustibly kind to undeserved misfortune, a little impatient of mere incompetence, implacable to continuous idiocy.

    The Creators | May Sinclair
  • The sight he was looking on would have sent three men out of five into gibbering idiocy.

    With Edged Tools | Henry Seton Merriman
  • Perhaps not until the child is six months old can the observer distinguish between blindness and idiocy.

    The Mother and Her Child | William S. Sadler
  • Physical inhibition in the growth of the brain involves, on the mental side, feeble-mindedness and idiocy.

    Psychotherapy | Hugo Mnsterberg

British Dictionary definitions for idiocy

idiocy

/ (ˈɪdɪəsɪ) /


nounplural -cies
  1. (not in technical usage) severe mental retardation

  2. foolishness or senselessness; stupidity

  1. a foolish act or remark

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012