dumb down

verb

dumbed down; dumbing down; dumbs down

transitive verb

: to lower the level of difficulty and the intellectual content of (something, such as a textbook)

also : to lower the general level of intelligence in

the dumbing down of society

Examples of dumb down in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The president-elect tends to avoid details—during his first term, aides learned to dumb down their presentations with bullet points. —Danielle Chemtob, Forbes, 21 Nov. 2024

Where there other ideas about how to dumb down Sage? —Jordan Moreau, Variety, 20 June 2024

Whoever has decided to dumb down America has done a really good job. —Jordan Riefe, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Sep. 2019

Business Column: Red-state efforts to dumb down their universities will provoke a brain drain May 2, 2023 GOP legislators in Wisconsin held hostage $800 million in funding for the state university and blocked all staff pay raises unless the university cut back DEI programs. —Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 4 Jan. 2024

But Jason didn’t dumb down any of his writing. —New York Times, 15 Aug. 2022

His knack for skewering Broadway’s smash hits and for commenting on its craven tendencies to dumb down for and rip off its customers is unparalleled. —David L. Coddon, San Diego Union-Tribune, 25 Apr. 2022

Angela Merkel, chancellor when the pandemic started, holds a doctorate in quantum chemistry and refused to dumb down science while addressing the public. —Lenora Chu, The Christian Science Monitor, 18 Feb. 2022

Yet the Biden Administration is mounting a regulatory assault on business, while progressives dumb down math and science with a woke curriculum. —The Editorial Board, WSJ, 2 Feb. 2022

Word History

First Known Use

1933, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for dumb down

• adown
• blowdown
• breakdown
• countdown
• crackdown
• crosstown
• downtown
• drawdown
• dropdown
• facedown
• godown
• hometown