as in dumb
not having or showing an ability to absorb ideas readily the show's amateur sleuth always has to explain to the dim-witted police chief who really committed the murder

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of dim-witted But fans clearly missed seeing the endearing — if dim-witted — Joey alongside his pals Rachel (Jennifer Aniston), Monica (Courteney Cox), Chandler (Matthew Perry), Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow), and Ross (David Schwimmer), because viewership steadily declined as the series progressed. Shania Russell, EW.com, 12 Mar. 2025 His longest-running series role was as Con Stapleton, a dim-witted card dealer who briefly becomes sheriff, in the 2004 HBO Western Deadwood. Gabriela Silva, TVLine, 21 Feb. 2025 Comedian Al Campbell played a dim-witted commentator with the ludicrous name Barry Shitpeas. Meredith Blake, Los Angeles Times, 2 Jan. 2025 Admittedly, laying off development staff to pay investors that fund publishing is a bit like cutting off your legs while trying to escape from a rampaging lion, but most of the people in publishing management are rather dim-witted. Ollie Barder, Forbes, 30 Dec. 2024 Written and produced by John Hughes, the irreverent and indelible holiday staple follows an 8-year-old who must defend his family’s sprawling Chicago home from two dim-witted robbers after his family members accidentally abandon him while en route to their Christmas vacation in Paris. Natalie Oganesyan, Deadline, 21 Dec. 2024 Hybrids are also, to put it bluntly, a bit dim-witted. Rebecca Heisman, Scientific American, 17 Sep. 2024 But what held your interest was the anti-spectacle of a tough little punk band blazing through songs about big-hearted losers and dim-witted politicians. Mikael Wood, Los Angeles Times, 15 Sep. 2024 It must be said that wrong CEOs are not dim-witted or evil. Geoff Colvin, Fortune, 10 Aug. 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dim-witted
Adjective
  • Ratajkowski has been fighting the stereotype of the dumb model from the beginning of her career.
    Daniel Jackson, Allure, 18 July 2017
  • Ninety nine percent of all NFL players are explicitly not dumb.
    Andy Benoit, The MMQB, 10 July 2017
Adjective
  • His is a sort of erudite buffoonery that consistently tap-dances between clever, self-aware, and patently stupid.
    David Sims, The Atlantic, 22 Mar. 2025
  • Ignoring those who served and buried honorably is stupid.
    Charles Selle, Chicago Tribune, 19 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • Don’t confuse grilling with smoking though—the basic difference is smoking is a slow process where food is cooked at low temperatures for a long period while grilling requires high heat applied over a short burst of time.
    Carrie Honaker, Southern Living, 19 Mar. 2025
  • It’s also been growing other divisions like digital services and wearables over the last decade to help offset general periods of slow iPhone sales.
    Lisa Eadicicco, CNN, 19 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • Murena Pixel Tablet Apps Switching away from Google's flavor of Android will always result in an app gap, and there's no simple way around it.
    Ewan Spence, Forbes, 23 Mar. 2025
  • Martha Stewart and Mila Kunis carried ones that looked like this simple option.
    Clint Davis, People.com, 23 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • Unfortunately, last April’s total solar eclipse was a bust for me, and the U.K.’s weather tends to be uncooperative for celestial events, often hiding them behind thick clouds.
    Daisy Dobrijevic, Space.com, 29 Mar. 2025
  • The open-faced turkey sandwich, traditionally served warm on a thick slice of toast with bacon, tomatoes, and Mornay sauce, is a headliner on the Bluegrass State’s long list of culinary contributions.
    Lisa Cericola, Southern Living, 29 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • Another director might have shied away from such minutiae or worse, be completely ignorant of them.
    Josh Weiss, Forbes, 17 Mar. 2025
  • Consider that Mahmoud Khalil, an anti-war protester and recent graduate of Columbia University, was arrested on a Saturday night by ICE agents who appeared ignorant of his status as a legal U.S. resident and his rights thereof.
    Nisha Whitehead, Orange County Register, 16 Mar. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Dim-witted.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dim-witted. Accessed 1 Apr. 2025.

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