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Glite Dictionary
chinless wonder

chinless wonder

1 9.9
A person, usually a man, who seems weak and is made fun of for lacking courage
  • noun
  • Offensive
translation icon : persona sin carácter
  • The tabloids loved mocking the royal family as a group of chinless wonders.

Examples

  • He was dismissed as a mere chinless wonder with no chance of leadership.

  • She called her ex-boyfriend a chinless wonder after their breakup.

  • He is such a chinless wonder at the office!

  • The critics described him as a complete chinless wonder.

  • Despite his title, the chinless wonder failed to impress anyone with his lack of charisma.

  • The celebrity was often referred to as a chinless wonder for his unimposing presence.

  • People joked that he was a chinless wonder, always struggling to take decisive action.

Synonyms

gutless wonder
vschinless wonder
  • Offensive
3 9.9

A person who is too afraid to act or make decisions

is about general ineffectiveness rather than only missing courage
just another pretty face
vschinless wonder
  • Offensive
1 7.6

A person who is attractive but thought to have little intelligence or real skill

focuses on general weak qualities rather than only on appearance

Antonyms

hero
∞ 1.1

A person admired for brave actions and good qualities

to champion
64 4.2

To publicly support a cause or person

How Impressive

mediocrity
4 6.4
chinless wonder
  • Offensive
1 9.9
weakling
  • Offensive
24 4.4

Surface Forms

chinless wonder singular
chinless wonders plural

Morphology

chinless + wonder

The phrase is compositionally built from 'chinless' (lacking a strong chin) and 'wonder' (a person/thing of note), so a learner could get a literal image of a person without a chin. However, the idiomatic, disparaging sense 'an ineffectual or unimpressive person' depends on a cultural metaphor (weak chin → weak character) and ironic use of 'wonder,' which is not fully predictable from the parts at B1 level.

Etymology

Chinless wonder paints a picture of someone with no strong chin, literally chinless, so they look weak while the word wonder is used as fake praise. So the phrase means 'a weak or unimpressive person'.