asinine

adjective

as·​i·​nine ˈa-sə-ˌnīn 

1

: extremely or utterly foolish or silly

an asinine excuse

2

: of, relating to, or resembling an ass

asininely adverb

asininity

ˌa-sə-ˈni-nə-tē 

noun

Synonyms

• absurd
• balmy
• brainless
• bubbleheaded
• cockeyed
• crackpot
• crazy
• cuckoo
• daffy
• daft
• dippy
• dotty
• fatuous
• featherheaded
• fool
• foolish
• half-baked
• half-witted
• harebrained
• inept
• insane
• jerky
• kooky
• kookie
• loony
• looney
• lunatic
• lunkheaded
• mad
• nonsensical
• nutty
• preposterous
• sappy
• screwball
• senseless
• silly
• simpleminded
• stupid
• tomfool
• unwise
• wacky
• whacky
• weak-minded
• witless
• zany

Choose the Right Synonym for asinine

simple, foolish, silly, fatuous, asinine mean actually or apparently deficient in intelligence.

simple implies a degree of intelligence inadequate to cope with anything complex or involving mental effort.

considered people simple who had trouble with computers

foolish implies the character of being or seeming unable to use judgment, discretion, or good sense.

foolish stunts

silly suggests failure to act as a rational being especially by ridiculous behavior.

the silly antics of revelers

fatuous implies foolishness, inanity, and disregard of reality.

fatuous conspiracy theories

asinine suggests utter and contemptible failure to use normal rationality or perception.

an asinine plot

Examples of asinine in a Sentence

… geniuses like Brando strike self and material together in a way that sets off some incomparable spark, radiating so much charisma that they get away with choices that would seem asinine from anyone else. —Jeremy McCarter, New York Times Book Review, 4 Jan. 2009

The boss of Wells Fargo has called the solvency tests "asinine". The aim of such behaviour is presumably to convince regulators to focus the coming clampdown on the weakest banks. —The Economist, 13-19 June 2009

First the good news: There's one palatable piece of ear candy here, "Rocket O' Love." While the words are asinine ("Shotgun, shing-a-ling/One, two, one two three, hey!!"), it's a hearty … rocker Billy Squier might like to call his own. —David Hiltbrand, People Weekly, 11 Mar. 1991

it was asinine to run into the street like that

Recent Examples on the Web

Alonso may not be the priority at first base for the Bronx Bombers, but to say there is zero interest is asinine. —Gord Magill, Newsweek, 20 Dec. 2024

Altman’s is a plainly asinine claim; a bunch of code running in a data center is not the same as a brain. —Matteo Wong, The Atlantic, 6 Dec. 2024

Comedy videos about customer service and asinine Atlanta eatery rules were already popular on TikTok but have seen major pickup since Lee’s viral videos. —Ct Jones, Rolling Stone, 1 Nov. 2023

Rogozin's claim that the only evidence Roscosmos could offer of the Moon landings was a book by Leonov is asinine. —Eric Berger, Ars Technica, 8 May 2023

Damning emails, texts, and deposition testimony made public during the Dominion case revealed that on-air hosts and executives, and many others at Fox, privately said in 2020 that the vote-rigging claims against Dominion were asinine. —Jennifer Korn, CNN, 20 Apr. 2023

Leo Frank, the Jewish superintendent of the local pencil factory, thinks the whole event is asinine, but the sticky, creeping quality of that melody should be a warning. —Vulture, 16 Mar. 2023

Completely asinine? —Josh Newman, The Salt Lake Tribune, 24 Aug. 2022

Her tweets are predictably asinine. —Rebecca Makkai, Harper's Magazine, 17 Aug. 2021

Word History

Etymology

Latin asininus, from asinus ass

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

asinine

adjective

as·​i·​nine ˈas-ᵊn-ˌīn 

: extremely foolish

an asinine excuse

asininely adverb

asininity

ˌas-ᵊn-ˈin-ət-ē 

noun