as in dumb
not having or showing an ability to absorb ideas readily
you're not unintelligent, so you must just be stubbornly resisting all attempts to teach you something
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Recent Examples of unintelligent
Even today, there are many settings in which the Christian faith is considered absurd, meant for the weak and unintelligent.
—
Daniel Burke, NPR, 9 May 2025
The show and its participants were even parodied on Saturday Night Live in January, with comedian Ego Nwodim playing Amuli, and other cast members mocking people’s poor conversation skills and unintelligent dating decisions.
—Ct Jones, Rolling Stone, 10 Apr. 2025
Google had to re-edit a Super Bowl ad for its artificial intelligence (AI) tool Gemini because the original ad had Gemini seeming artificially unintelligent.
—Greg Cote, Miami Herald, 7 Feb. 2025
Participants hesitated almost three times as long to switch off an intelligent and agreeable robot (34.5 seconds) compared to an unintelligent and non agreeable robot (11.8 seconds).
—IEEE Spectrum, 31 Jan. 2013
See All Example Sentences for unintelligent
Daniel Burke, NPR, 9 May 2025
The show and its participants were even parodied on Saturday Night Live in January, with comedian Ego Nwodim playing Amuli, and other cast members mocking people’s poor conversation skills and unintelligent dating decisions.
—Ct Jones, Rolling Stone, 10 Apr. 2025
Google had to re-edit a Super Bowl ad for its artificial intelligence (AI) tool Gemini because the original ad had Gemini seeming artificially unintelligent.
—Greg Cote, Miami Herald, 7 Feb. 2025
Participants hesitated almost three times as long to switch off an intelligent and agreeable robot (34.5 seconds) compared to an unintelligent and non agreeable robot (11.8 seconds).
—IEEE Spectrum, 31 Jan. 2013
See All Example Sentences for unintelligent
Recent Examples of Synonyms for unintelligent
Adjective
-
And then quite a bit of dumb bits, like really dumb bits.—
Eric Ducker,
Los Angeles Times,
6 Feb. 2026
-
The multi-vehicle pile-up that ensues might go even dumber than a Rusko drop, yet there’s no escaping the anxiety that remains in the static hiss that closes the track.—
James Gui,
Pitchfork,
6 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
But maybe Johnson isn’t stupid.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
11 Feb. 2026
-
Such as the one where the candidate remarked that some white rural Americans were stupid and racist.—
Mark Leibovich,
The Atlantic,
11 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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That builds on similar trends throughout 2025, when the industry buoyed an otherwise slow labor market, as the nation’s hospitals, clinics and nursing homes kept hiring even as many employers pulled back.—
Abha Bhattarai,
Washington Post,
14 Feb. 2026
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Any type of realism was [limited to] very short clips, everything was very slow, bad textures, no skin textures, lacking detail.—
Arjun Kharpal,
CNBC,
14 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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Feltner’s routine was pretty simple.—
Patrick Saunders,
Denver Post,
12 Feb. 2026
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Crime 101 takes the same view of quid pro quo as the most basic form of American commerce and makes simple but brutal points about value and self-worth, where your car, its year, make and model, matters more than your resumé.—
Damon Wise,
Deadline,
11 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
Walz said children fear aggressive agents; critics called the comparison ignorant and offensive.—
Staff,
FOXNews.com,
29 Jan. 2026
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One of Johnson’s former Cowboys superstars, Colorado head coach Deion Sanders, called voters who ignored Belichick ignorant.—
Lawrence Dow,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
28 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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These caverns under sidewalks could be used for storage, and circular pieces of thick glass in the sidewalk added natural light to these eerie underground chambers.—
Jacques Kelly,
Baltimore Sun,
7 Feb. 2026
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The Bucklebury countryside is known for its thick woodlands, which add an extra layer of privacy to the exclusive area, attracting a less-flashy set.—
Bailey Bujnosek,
InStyle,
7 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Unintelligent.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unintelligent. Accessed 14 Feb. 2026.
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