witlessness
- noun
- /ˈwɪt.ləs.nəs/
- Offensive
:
estupidez
- The assumptions behind this statement are appalling and indeed mind-boggling in their condescension and witlessness.
Examples
-
His witlessness led to many mistakes during the project, as he overlooked important details.
-
His witlessness during the meeting surprised everyone, as he failed to grasp the simplest concepts.
-
We sense that below the surface of her snicker and sudden retreat there lies more guile than witlessness or witchcraft; and that behind her and Celestina's recollections of past acquaintance there.
Academic text (1995) -
The debate revealed her witlessness; she couldn't come up with a single clever argument.
Synonyms
115
2.5
Not being smart or having good judgment
40
8.0
Very stupid or foolish behaviour often seen as offensive
4
9.5
A state of being very silly and without any real meaning
2
7.3
A lack of thought or care in what someone does
1
6.2
A state of not understanding things quickly
1
9.2
Being slow to understand things and often acting in a silly way
1
3.8
Slow thinking and trouble understanding new things
Low mental ability to think clearly or learn
A quality of being slow to understand and making simple mistakes
A state when someone is slow to understand things
Antonyms
How Unintelligent
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Witlessness comes from the old English root wit, which meant a 'quick mind' or 'knowledge', plus the ending -less, which means 'without'. Think of witty, which means 'clever', so witlessness is literally being 'without wit', and that explains why it means lacking cleverness or intelligence.