as in dumb
not having or showing an ability to absorb ideas readily
you're not unintelligent, so you must just be stubbornly resisting all attempts to teach you something
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of unintelligent
Growing shares in each party describe those in the other party as more closed-minded, dishonest, immoral and unintelligent than other Americans.
—
NBC News, 22 Dec. 2024
In short: Wells assumed Neanderthals were unintelligent brutes.
—Byrd Pinkerton, Vox, 7 Dec. 2018
But the gullible, easily-led and unintelligent — and the media — all fall for the lie.
—Paul Bedard, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 2 Nov. 2024
Both of these insults are based on racist stereotypes (the lazy trope and the unintelligent trope) that have been weaponized against Black people throughout history.
—Janice Gassam Asare, Forbes, 23 Oct. 2024
See All Example Sentences for unintelligent
NBC News, 22 Dec. 2024
In short: Wells assumed Neanderthals were unintelligent brutes.
—Byrd Pinkerton, Vox, 7 Dec. 2018
But the gullible, easily-led and unintelligent — and the media — all fall for the lie.
—Paul Bedard, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 2 Nov. 2024
Both of these insults are based on racist stereotypes (the lazy trope and the unintelligent trope) that have been weaponized against Black people throughout history.
—Janice Gassam Asare, Forbes, 23 Oct. 2024
See All Example Sentences for unintelligent
Recent Examples of Synonyms for unintelligent
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
-
Jess: The curds themselves are crispy, but the toast is stupid.—
Jess Fleming,
Twin Cities,
22 Aug. 2025
-
The dialogue wasn’t dumbed down and stupid comic book stuff.—
William Earl,
Variety,
20 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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Satellite: Available almost everywhere but can be slower and affected by weather.—
Kara McGinley,
USA Today,
22 Aug. 2025
-
By the looks of it, news of rock music’s slow and painful death under ever-widening pop hegemony is greatly exaggerated.—
Chris R. Morgan,
The Washington Examiner,
22 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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For Zander, who has spent three decades championing play as a form of healing, the solution lies in something deceptively simple: rediscovering the human joy of play.—
William Jones,
USA Today,
29 Aug. 2025
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Get inspired by a weekly roundup on living well, made simple.—
Katia Hetter,
CNN Money,
28 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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Joe is willfully ignorant—to national news and a lethal pandemic—but Aster didn’t write the character as a one-dimensional MAGA standee.—
Madison Bloom,
Pitchfork,
17 July 2025
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Yet Americans are surprisingly ignorant about our past.—
John C. Goodman,
Forbes.com,
29 July 2025
Adjective
-
One is a Dutch oven, a heavy pot with thick walls and a tight-fitting lid, typically cast iron and traditionally used for stews, soups and bread.—
Lisa Gutierrez,
Kansas City Star,
20 Aug. 2025
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Our relationship has always been thick and strong, even through the thin times.—
Chris Hays,
The Orlando Sentinel,
20 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Unintelligent.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unintelligent. Accessed 4 Sep. 2025.
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