knuckleheaded

as in stupid
not having or showing an ability to absorb ideas readily a knuckleheaded attempt to increase efficiency that only succeeded in making things worse

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for knuckleheaded
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
  • Each of them loses track of a CD filled with secrets, and some end up dying in the stupidest possible ways because of their incompetence.
    Keith Phipps, Vulture, 19 Mar. 2025
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
  • 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
  • The second came in April 2022, when Wall Street panicked over analysts’ predicting slow subscriber growth as Disney, HBO and NBCUniversal invested heavily in streaming.
    Ramin Setoodeh, Variety, 19 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • Martha Stewart and Mila Kunis carried ones that looked like this simple option.
    Clint Davis, People.com, 23 Mar. 2025
  • 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
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
  • Too many young people are making idiotic short-term financial decisions that hamper long-term success.
    Chandler Dean, The New Yorker, 24 Jan. 2023
  • Beyond the Lungs Two other cardiac cases impressed me — and blew away the idiotic notion that young people are immune to COVID-19.
    Tony Dajer, Discover Magazine, 30 July 2020
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.

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Cite this Entry

“Knuckleheaded.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/knuckleheaded. Accessed 2 Apr. 2025.

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