usage: dumb in the sense “lacking the power of speech” is offensive when applied to humans (but not animals), probably because the word also means “stupid; dull-witted.”
”I’m just excited to make these dumb animal characters talk again.” ”I’m just excited to make these dumb animal characters talk again.” Fans of Homestar Runner, take heart: the seminal internet ...
stupid, dull, dense, crass, dumb mean lacking in power to absorb ideas or impressions. stupid implies a slow-witted or dazed state of mind that may be either congenital or temporary.
DUMB definition: 1. unable to speak: 2. temporarily unable to speak, for example because you are very surprised or…. Learn more.
Dumb is the Old English word that means "mute, speechless," and itself came from an even older word dheubh meaning "confusion, stupefaction, dizziness." Today, dumb still means "unable to speak," but it doesn't have anything to do with intelligence.
Definition of dumb adjective in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.
From Middle English dumb (“silent, speechless, mute, ineffectual”), from Old English dumb (“silent, speechless, mute, unable to speak”), from Proto-West Germanic *dumb, from Proto-Germanic *dumbaz (“dull, dumb”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewbʰ- (“to whisk, smoke, darken, obscure”).
We were all struck dumb for a minute. If you call a person dumb, you mean that they are stupid or foolish. The questions were set up to make her look dumb. If you say that something is dumb, you think that it is silly and annoying. I came up with this dumb idea. Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers.