Synonyms
Examples of simpleton in a Sentence
The instructions were so complicated I felt like a complete simpleton.
his silly antics at office parties have earned him a reputation as a simpleton
Recent Examples on the Web
Gamble, seeing there was no way to get anywhere with the chancellor playing the simpleton, opened the floor to softball questions.
—
Thomas Meaney, Harper's Magazine, 26 Apr. 2024
Americans, even or especially historians, tend to treat the early New Englanders as dogmatists: narrow, pious simpletons.
—Marilynne Robinson, Harper's Magazine, 1 July 2022
All three of his major poetry-writing heteronyms, with their distinctive and incompatible orientations to life—a holy simpleton of a shepherd, a moody naval engineer, and a stoical medical student turned Latin instructor—are impressive modern poets, as is Pessoa under his own name.
—Benjamin Kunkel, Harper's Magazine, 26 Oct. 2021
His competition was Forrest Gump, a feel-good studio drama that located America’s soul in a sweet simpleton played by Tom Hanks.
—Michael Schulman, Vulture, 21 Feb. 2023
See all Example Sentences for simpleton 
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Thomas Meaney, Harper's Magazine, 26 Apr. 2024
Americans, even or especially historians, tend to treat the early New Englanders as dogmatists: narrow, pious simpletons.
—Marilynne Robinson, Harper's Magazine, 1 July 2022
All three of his major poetry-writing heteronyms, with their distinctive and incompatible orientations to life—a holy simpleton of a shepherd, a moody naval engineer, and a stoical medical student turned Latin instructor—are impressive modern poets, as is Pessoa under his own name.
—Benjamin Kunkel, Harper's Magazine, 26 Oct. 2021
His competition was Forrest Gump, a feel-good studio drama that located America’s soul in a sweet simpleton played by Tom Hanks.
—Michael Schulman, Vulture, 21 Feb. 2023
See all Example Sentences for simpleton
Dictionary Entries Near simpleton
Cite this Entry
“Simpleton.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/simpleton. Accessed 9 Feb. 2025.
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simpleton
noun
sim·ple·ton
ˈsim-pəl-tən 
: a person lacking in common sense
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