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nincompoop - 4 dictionary results

nin⋅com⋅poop

  [nin-kuhm-poop, ning-]
Use nincompoop in a Sentence
–noun
a fool or simpleton.
Origin:
1670–80; orig. uncert.

Related forms:
nin⋅com⋅poop⋅er⋅y, noun
nin⋅com⋅poop⋅ish, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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nin·com·poop   (nĭn'kəm-pōōp', nĭng'-)   
n.  A silly, foolish, or stupid person.

[Origin unknown .]
nin'com·poop'er·y n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Nincompoop

Nin"com*poop\, n. [A corruption of non compos.] A fool; a silly or stupid person. [Law]

An old ninnyhammer, a dotard, a nincompoop, is the best language she can afford me. --Addison.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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nincompoop 
1676, nicompoop. Despite similarity [noted by Johnson] to L. legal phrase non compos mentis "insane, mentally incompetent" (1607), the connection is denied by etymologists because the earliest forms lack the second -n-. Weekley thinks first element may be a proper name, and cites Nicodemus, which he says was used in Fr. for "a fool," or Nicholas.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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