nincompoop
Pronunciation
  • (RP) IPA: /ˈnɪŋkəmpuːp/
  • (GA) IPA: /ˈnɪŋkəmˌpup/, /ˈnɪn-/
Noun

nincompoop (plural nincompoops)

  1. (derogatory) A foolish or silly person. [from 16th c.]
    Synonyms: dunderhead, fool, imbecile, nitwit, Thesaurus:fool
    • 1673, Tho[mas] Shadwell, Epsom-Wells. A Comedy, […], London: Printed by J[ohn] M[acock] for Henry Herringman […], OCLC 228724106 ↗, Act II, scene i, page 28 ↗:
      Yes, you Nicompoop, you are a pretty Fellow to pleaſe a Woman indeed.
    • 1694, [Thomas] d’Urfey, The Comical History of Don Quixote. […], part I, London: Printed for Samuel Briscoe, […], OCLC 606102933 ↗, Act I, scene ii, page 6 ↗:
      Oh, thou Dromedary, thou Founder'd Mule, without a Pack-ſaddle; or what other foul Beaſt ſhall I call thee, for Man thou art not, nor haſt not been to me, Heaven knows the time when? Art not thou aſham'd to ſee me, thou Nincompoop?
    • 1767, [Laurence Sterne], chapter XXV, in The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, volume IX, London: Printed for T. Becket and P. A. Dehondt, […], OCLC 938413191 ↗, [https://www1.gifu-u.ac.jp/~masaru/ts9.pdf#page=115 page 99]:
      [S]hall I be call'd as many blockheads, numſculs, doddypoles, dunderheads, ninnyhammers, gooſecaps, joltheads, nicompoops, and ſ—t-a-beds—and other unſavory appelations, [...]
    • [1785, [Francis Grose], “[https://books.google.com/books?id=zLAJs0_prpwC&pg=PT142{smallcaps]”, in A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, London: Printed for S. Hooper, […], OCLC 1080177284 ↗:
      '''{{smallcaps]
    • 1905 January 12, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “The Scarlet Pimpernel”, in The Scarlet Pimpernel, London: Greening & Co., OCLC 51454043 ↗; The Scarlet Pimpernel: A Romance, popular edition, London: Greening & Co. Ltd., 20 March 1912, OCLC 235822313 ↗, page 183 ↗:
      No wonder that Chauvelin's spies had failed to detect, in the apparently brainless nincompoop, the man whose reckless daring and resourceful ingenuity had baffled the keenest French spies, both in France and in England.
Translations


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