dunce
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
- duncelike adjective
- duncical adjective
- duncish adjective
- duncishly adverb
Etymology
Origin of dunce
1520–30; after John Duns Scotus, whose writings were attacked by the humanists as foolish
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
If you do think that he could, please step forward and claim your complimentary dunce cap, and infuse it with your own naivete.
From Salon • May 5, 2023
Now he’s the guy who sat on that bar stool in Columbus, the bully who berated his kicker, the dunce who thought Andre Cisco was playing when he wasn’t.
From Washington Post • Dec. 16, 2021
In my view, the biggest mistake scientists make is to claim that this is all somehow simple and therefore to imply that anyone who doesn't get it is a dunce.
From Scientific American • Jul. 8, 2021
Does my deep engagement with the novel’s central character, Holly Sykes, make me a dunce or just gullible?
From New York Times • Jul. 24, 2020
The high hairdo towered over her thin face like dunce cap, the white-blond hair utterly incongruous with her olive skin.
From "Uglies" by Scott Westerfeld
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
