nitwit

[ nit-wit ]

noun

1. a slow-witted, stupid, or foolish person.

   Synonyms: booby, dunce, dolt, blockhead, fool

nitwit

/ ˈnɪtˌwɪt /

noun

1. informal.
   a foolish person

Word History and Origins

Origin of nitwit¹

First recorded in 1920–25; nit (from German; dialectal variant of nicht “not”) + wit ¹ (in the sense of “intelligence”)

Word History and Origins

Origin of nitwit¹

C20: perhaps from nit ¹+ wit ¹

Example Sentences

Trump hasn't been as thoroughly exposed as Giuliani to be a grasping nitwit.

From Salon

To compound the strangeness, DeSantis and Musk were joined by venture capitalist David Sacks, an authoritarian nitwit whose definition of "woke" is so expansive that he assigns the insult to those who disapprove of Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

From Salon

“Maybe that’s why the movie is so popular. Because here’s a mastermind fighting a nitwit.”

From Los Angeles Times

That is the best that can be said for its nitwit treasure-hunt movie “Uncharted,” an amalgam of clichés that were already past their sell-by date when Nicolas Cage plundered the box office in Disney’s “National Treasure” series.

From New York Times

I asked him to mask up and enlisted a flight attendant, but I settled for 11 hours next to a nitwit rule-breaking anti-masker.

From Los Angeles Times