as in dumb
not having or showing an ability to absorb ideas readily
a knuckleheaded attempt to increase efficiency that only succeeded in making things worse
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for knuckleheaded
Adjective
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Rock and pop are often unsophisticated, or downright dumb.—
Jed Gottlieb,
Boston Herald,
26 Mar. 2026 -
Urban infrastructure, after all, is still pretty dumb—forcing robotaxis to be designed around transit systems that are decades old.—
Nicholas Gordon,
Fortune,
26 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
Of course, sometimes the situation is more serious than stupid.—
Isaac Stanley-Becker,
The Atlantic,
31 Mar. 2026
-
The American people are not stupid and will not accept more failure theater from Republicans in Congress.—
Lauren Green,
The Washington Examiner,
25 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
In fact, businesses hired workers at their slowest pace since 2011, excluding the onset of the pandemic in 2020.—
Morgan Chittum,
CNBC,
3 Apr. 2026
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The area’s large tourist population contributes a constant volume of unfamiliar drivers to already heavily congested roads, with traffic patterns that shift significantly between peak tourist season and the summer months but never truly slow to manageable levels on the area’s major corridors.—
Anton Lucanus
April 3,
Miami Herald,
3 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
Build buffer time, trim one commitment, then return to the itinerary with even gentler expectations and a simpler packing list.—
Tarot.com,
Hartford Courant,
2 Apr. 2026
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Parents, guardians, aunts and uncles don't have time to read every book on the shelf while trying to pick something for the young reader in their life, so here are some simple ways to determine if a book is suitable for that child.—
Cody Godwin,
USA Today,
2 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
Louise touched her phone screen to look at the picture of Diana again—gorgeous Diana smiling into the wind, all that thick hair billowing.—
Catherine Lacey,
New Yorker,
5 Apr. 2026
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The slide appears to have involved a thick slab of soft snow breaking loose at a weak layer in the snowpack, the report said.—
Ethan Baron,
Mercury News,
4 Apr. 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Knuckleheaded.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/knuckleheaded. Accessed 5 Apr. 2026.
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