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as in fool
a silly flighty person a nitwit who never should have been given a position of responsibility in the company

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Examples 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 nitwit Stan Brooks: That’s the pumping-iron term for somebody who’s kind of a nitwit. Benjamin Naddaff-Hafrey, Vulture, 18 Dec. 2024 The white supremacist rally that interrupted the mayor's lunch in Howell on Saturday wasn't overly impressive, really — just a dozen or so nitwits, and one ghost. Neal Rubin, Detroit Free Press, 25 July 2024 The nitwits were chased off by a woman from the local library board. Neal Rubin, Detroit Free Press, 25 July 2024 This childish nitwit called the judge deciding his case a Nazi, which earned him an extra five months in the J6 choir. Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 11 June 2024 Dunst sleepwalks through this noxious comedy based on Toby Young’s 2001 memoir of the same name, playing a writer who takes a reluctant liking to Pegg’s infantile nitwit. Matthew Jacobs, Vulture, 12 Apr. 2024 Or is the old guy in the golf cart supposed to be a square, privileged nitwit parroting MAGA nonsense? Reader Commentary, Baltimore Sun, 2 May 2024 Yet the nitwits across the street, who clutter their lawn with Christmas blow-up dolls, have won the contest four years in a row. Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 3 Dec. 2023 This implies that Elizabeth, for all her intelligence and sense of duty, was as much a moral nitwit as the Duke of Windsor. Tom Gliatto, Peoplemag, 16 Nov. 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for nitwit
Noun
  • Before the show was over, a Black pastor from Detroit named Lorenzo Sewell approached the podium and made a damn fool of himself.
    Vinson Cunningham, The New Yorker, 20 Jan. 2025
  • In my view, politics have become so closely intertwined with the way people see themselves that separating the two can feel like a fool’s errand.
    Clarence Page, Chicago Tribune, 19 Jan. 2025
Noun
  • Besides offering a cash prize of up to $250,000, the show can help change perception of a villain or a ditz and be a springboard for their next casting.
    Shivani Gonzalez, New York Times, 23 Jan. 2025
  • Her foothold in the entertainment industry firmly established, Grande soon landed her breakthrough role as the loveable ditz Cat Valentine on Nickelodeon’s Victorious.
    Stephen Daw, Billboard, 17 Oct. 2024
Noun
  • An underrated gem — not enough people have seen this top-tier season — Squirrels Trip has some fabulous vocals, very funny lyrics, a heavy dose of stupid, and an engaging story.
    Barry Levitt, Vulture, 19 Apr. 2024
  • The stupid!
    Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 2 July 2021
Noun
  • Meyers and Falconer rescued the goose and left it at a pond at a more suitable altitude, rangers said.
    Don Sweeney, Sacramento Bee, 15 Jan. 2025
  • More than a century ago, goose was served at Christmas dinner.
    Nicholas Florko, The Atlantic, 24 Dec. 2024
Noun
  • For evolutionary biologists, the term cuckoldry originated to describe cuckoo birds who lay their eggs in other species’ nests, leaving their offspring to be unknowingly raised by foster parents.
    Brooke Scelza, Scientific American, 19 Sep. 2024
  • The loss of common cuckoos, meanwhile, means that spring arrives in the U.K. without its iconic song.
    Jared Del Rosso, The Conversation, 22 Oct. 2024
Noun
  • Duvall is a big reason why: All the film’s insights into the slipperiness of identity are there in her casually virtuosic, veritable dual performance, in which a funny flibbertigibbet loses hold of herself as the world around seems to splinter into something frighteningly new.
    A.A. Dowd, Vulture, 19 July 2024
  • Projects about Monroe have handled her personal life to varying degrees of success, often leaning into her flibbertigibbet persona, her struggles with addiction, and the paradox of her oozing sexuality and her little girl brokenness.
    Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 24 Jan. 2023
Noun
  • Should former President Trump stop calling Ambassador Haley birdbrain?
    CBS News, CBS News, 18 Feb. 2024
  • By solving one kind of puzzle that stumped crows, though, the kids may have shown how a human mind treats problems differently than a birdbrain.
    Elizabeth Preston, Discover Magazine, 26 July 2012

Thesaurus Entries Near nitwit

Cite this Entry

“Nitwit.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/nitwit. Accessed 30 Jan. 2025.

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