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Glite Dictionary
to call someone a moke

to call someone a moke

9.9
To insult someone by saying they are a fool
  • idiom
  • Offensive
translation icon : llamar a alguien idiota
  • I can't believe you would call someone a moke just for making a mistake.

Examples

  • It's not nice to call someone a moke during an argument.

  • Don't call him a moke!

  • He regretted calling someone a moke after he calmed down.

  • He doesn't like it when you call him a moke.

  • It's rude to call someone a moke when they're trying their best.

  • She felt embarrassed after calling someone a moke in front of everyone.

  • You shouldn't call someone a moke if you truly value their friendship.

Synonyms

to call someone a jerk
vsto call someone a moke
  • Offensive
5 5.7

Say someone is rude or mean to hurt their feelings

labels someone as lacking sense or intelligence rather than being mean
to call someone a wuss
vsto call someone a moke
  • Offensive
1 8.8

To say someone is not brave to make them feel bad

calls someone stupid or senseless rather than questioning bravery
to call someone a maggot
vsto call someone a moke
  • Offensive
9.9

Insult someone by saying 'maggot' to show they are worthless or lazy

labels someone as lacking sense or intelligence rather than as worthless

Antonyms

to admire
743 1.6

To feel respect and pleasure when you look at someone or something

How Insulting

idiot
  • Offensive
∞ 1.2
to call someone a moke
  • Offensive
9.9
fool
  • Offensive
∞ 1.4
to be silly
88 2.1

Surface Forms

call someone a moke infinitive
called someone a moke past
called someone a moke past participle
calling someone a moke present participle
calls someone a moke third person singular

Morphology

call + someone + a + moke

The syntactic frame 'call someone a X' is compositionally transparent (to label someone), but the crucial noun 'moke' is not a productive or transparent English morpheme and is listed as unattested/slang here. A B1 learner who only knows the literal constituents would not be able to derive the insulting meaning 'fool/idiot' from the parts, so the expression is not predictable from its constituents.

Etymology

Call someone a moke likely comes from old slang where moke meant a donkey. Picture someone as a silly donkey, and you can see why call someone a moke means 'to call someone a fool' or insult them.