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eggheaded

eggheaded

8.8
Very academic or intellectual in a way that seems out of touch with real life
  • adjective
  • /ˈɛɡˌhɛdɪd/
  • Offensive
translation icon : intelectualoide
  • Many found her eggheaded theories fascinating, but they often lacked practical application in everyday life.

Examples

  • But something strange had come over me, possibly a sense of righteousness as unbidden as visions are to the crazed or eurekas to the eggheaded, so instead of bolting for the screen door, I leaned back into the couch, crossed my legs like a banker looking at his strong box.

    Fiction book (1995)
  • The professor's eggheaded lectures often left the students feeling confused and disconnected from real-world issues.

  • Eloquent, witty, and famously eggheaded, Stevenson spoke to the scholar's readership as no other candidate had.

    Academic text (2007)
  • Unfortunately, being eggheaded does not preclude being a nitwit (as Condi Rice's career in the Cheney Administration attests).

    Blog text (11)
  • His eggheaded approach to problem-solving made it difficult for his colleagues to relate to his suggestions.

Antonyms

507 2.6

About how something works in real life rather than in ideas

42 4.1

A person who is practical and sensible in a friendly, not showy way

Compounds

9.3

An overly academic way of solving problems that is impractical

9.9

A discussion that focuses on difficult ideas and is hard for most people to follow

How Intellectual

eggheaded
  • Offensive
8.8
highbrow
10 8.1
intellectual
380 5.5
scholarly
  • Formal
47 5.6
bookish
10 6.5

Surface Forms

eggheaded positive
eggheadeder comparative
eggheadest superlative

Morphology

eggheaded = egghead (semi-transparent) = egg + head + ed

The adjective is a regular derivation from the noun 'egghead' by adding '-ed', meaning 'having the qualities of an egghead'.

Etymology

Eggheaded comes from the slang egghead, a joking insult that imagined someone's head as an egg ('round' and full of ideas). So calling someone eggheaded means they are very academic or intellectual and sometimes out of touch with everyday life.