as in idiot
a stupid person
only an imbecile would leave their car unlocked, with the keys in the ignition, and then be surprised when the vehicle was stolen
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
variants
or imbecilic
as in idiotic
Related Words
Dissimilar Words
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 imbecile
Literary Hub, 30 Mar. 2026
Insulting this imbecile became the most rewarding pastime on earth.
—Rosa Lyster, Harpers Magazine, 30 Dec. 2025
Evil is insolent and strong; beauty enchanting but rare; goodness very apt to be weak; folly very apt to be defiant; wickedness to carry the day; imbeciles to be in great places, people of sense in small, and mankind generally unhappy.
—Sam Sacks, WSJ, 18 Nov. 2016
Hard to accept that these imbeciles represent the people in our government.
—Kelefa Sanneh, The New Yorker, 5 Feb. 2016
Noun
If the eventual outcome hadn’t been so tragic, and if one of the people involved hadn’t been an absolute imbecile, and if there hadn’t been a dearth of actual romance, their meeting would have made for good romantic fiction.
—Literary Hub, 30 Mar. 2026
Insulting this imbecile became the most rewarding pastime on earth.
—Rosa Lyster, Harpers Magazine, 30 Dec. 2025
Evil is insolent and strong; beauty enchanting but rare; goodness very apt to be weak; folly very apt to be defiant; wickedness to carry the day; imbeciles to be in great places, people of sense in small, and mankind generally unhappy.
—Sam Sacks, WSJ, 18 Nov. 2016
Hard to accept that these imbeciles represent the people in our government.
—Kelefa Sanneh, The New Yorker, 5 Feb. 2016
Recent Examples of Synonyms for imbecile
Adjective
-
Think of the costs of an idiotic war that could have covered universal child care and college tuitions.—
Sun Sentinel Editorial Board,
Sun Sentinel,
6 May 2026
-
The biggest is Theroux’s overly tanned and idiotic tech billionaire Benji Barnes, who is dating Emily (Emily Blunt) after recently divorcing his cool wife Sasha Barnes (Lucy Liu) and leaving her with billions.—
Jason P. Frank,
Vulture,
4 May 2026
Noun
-
Lluís then calls Puig Antich a moron.—
Colm Tóibín,
The Atlantic,
14 Mar. 2026
-
This drunk moron — quite different from his character in the novel — bears a ton of blame.—
Roxana Hadadi,
Vulture,
13 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
Does that kind of discourse-friendly success override the fact that Euphoria is too young, too scummy, and too dumb to fit into the usual Emmy pattern?—
Joe Reid,
Vulture,
2 May 2026
-
And that’s where things somehow got even dumber After being questioned by security, Beyer reportedly gave a fake name, which prompted them to call police.—
Amber Harding OutKick,
FOXNews.com,
29 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
My dad has always said the lottery is a tax on the stupid.—
Alex Crippen,
CNBC,
4 Apr. 2026
-
The scale of the headloss was best summed up by Luis Suarez attempting to reason with Messi, before the Argentine did anything on the Suarez scale of stupid.—
Phil Hay,
New York Times,
23 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
His moronic tariffs continue to blow up in his face, spiking inflation and getting zero concessions from China.—
Voice of the People,
New York Daily News,
25 Feb. 2026
-
In the annals of moronic behavior, driving forty minutes out of your way in the middle of the night in order to secretly and skillfully cut down everybody’s favorite tree does not come up.—
Rosa Lyster,
Harpers Magazine,
30 Dec. 2025
Adjective
-
When a Republican says something foolish, network anchors react like a gator just crawled into the studio wearing a MAGA hat.—
Larry Clifton,
The Orlando Sentinel,
3 May 2026
-
If Florida is worried about China’s rise, dismantling educational and cultural exchanges is a foolish response.—
Sun Sentinel Editorial Board,
Sun Sentinel,
29 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
Still, even as the memes become borderline unintelligible, Kirkslop contains an air of transgression that imbues the otherwise inane edits and images with perverse political undercurrents.—
Brady Brickner-Wood,
New Yorker,
29 Apr. 2026
-
Cunk on Earth plays like a Daily Show segment spread out across five hours, in which viewers watch the earnest — and ofttimes exasperated — talking heads field inane questions from Morgan’s uproariously daft Cunk.—
Andrew Walsh,
Entertainment Weekly,
5 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
Given some of Trump’s most problematic remarks about Ukraine, this hope may not have been completely fatuous.—
Daniel Fried,
Time,
24 Oct. 2025
-
The fatuous Fed/1930s narrative raises a basic question: why are successful investors paid so well?—
John Tamny,
Forbes.com,
22 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Imbecile.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/imbecile. Accessed 8 May. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
