Dunce \Dunce\, n. [From Joannes Duns Scotus, a schoolman called
the Subtle Doctor, who died in 1308. Originally in the phrase
"a Duns man". See Note below.]
One backward in book learning; a child or other person dull
or weak in intellect; a dullard; a dolt.
[1913 Webster]
I never knew this town without dunces of figure.
--Swift.
[1913 Webster]
Note: The schoolmen were often called, after their great
leader Duns Scotus, Dunsmen or Duncemen. In the revival
of learning they were violently opposed to classical
studies; hence, the name of Dunce was applied with
scorn and contempt to an opposer of learning, or to one
slow at learning, a dullard.
[1913 Webster]
Source: The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
|
61 Moby Thesaurus words for "dunce":
Boeotian, block, blockhead, bonehead, boob, booby, bufflehead,
cabbagehead, chowderhead, chucklehead, chump, clod, clodpate,
clodpoll, cluck, dabbler, dilettante, dimwit, dodo, dolt, dolthead,
donkey, dope, drip, duffer, dullard, dullhead, dumb, dumb cluck,
dumbbell, dummy, fool, gowk, greenhorn, greeny, ignoramus,
illiterate, illiterati, jobbernowl, know-nothing, lackwit,
lamebrain, lightweight, looby, loon, lowbrow, middlebrow, niais,
nincompoop, ninny, ninnyhammer, nitwit, no scholar, noddy,
puddinghead, put, stupid, tenderfoot, thickwit, unintelligentsia,
witling
Source: Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
|
Dunce \Dunce\, n. [From Joannes Duns Scotus, a schoolman called
the Subtle Doctor, who died in 1308. Originally in the phrase
``a Duns man''. See Note below.]
One backward in book learning; a child or other person dull
or weak in intellect; a dullard; a dolt.
I never knew this town without dunces of figure.
--Swift.
Note: The schoolmen were often called, after their great
leader Duns Scotus, Dunsmen or Duncemen. In the revival
of learning they were violently opposed to classical
studies; hence, the name of Dunce was applied with
scorn and contempt to an opposer of learning, or to one
slow at learning, a dullard.
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
|