See chinless wonder in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
{ "etymology_text": "The term is derived from the characteristic recessive chin of some aristocrats, popularly thought to be caused by inbreeding and associated with limited intelligence, and from the idea of a robust chin being an indication of masculinity. The use of wonder is ironic.", "forms": [ { "form": "chinless wonders", "tags": [ "plural" ] } ], "head_templates": [ { "args": {}, "expansion": "chinless wonder (plural chinless wonders)", "name": "en-noun" } ], "lang": "English", "lang_code": "en", "pos": "noun", "senses": [ { "categories": [ { "kind": "other", "name": "British English", "parents": [], "source": "w" }, { "kind": "other", "name": "English entries with incorrect language header", "parents": [ "Entries with incorrect language header", "Entry maintenance" ], "source": "w" }, { "kind": "other", "name": "Pages with 1 entry", "parents": [], "source": "w" }, { "kind": "other", "name": "Pages with entries", "parents": [], "source": "w" }, { "kind": "topical", "langcode": "en", "name": "People", "orig": "en:People", "parents": [ "Human", "All topics", "Fundamental" ], "source": "w" } ], "examples": [ { "ref": "1948, Saturday Review of Literature, volume 31, page 18:", "text": "This was probably the most insufferable social event of a very dull season. The bride blushingly gave her age as forty-two, but the old battle-axe could have been an eye-witness to the San Francisco Fire. At long last, little Dagmar's folks have got her married off to Morty, the chinless wonder. He couldn't hold down a job as grocery clerk, and will be manager of father-in-law's wholesale grocery firm.", "type": "quote" }, { "ref": "1967, The Assistant Librarian, volumes 60–61, page 24:", "text": "She is thin, starved to near perfection […] He, a chinless wonder, a credit to Carnaby Street; they stand hand in hand before the enquiry desk", "type": "quote" }, { "ref": "1979, The Spectator, volume 243, number 1, page 25:", "text": "[Actor] John Harding personified the idle spirit of the times as a tennis-possessed chinless wonder.", "type": "quote" } ], "glosses": [ "An ineffectual upper-class man, typically dim-witted and of a weak or indecisive character, frequently one who gained his position through nepotism or social connections." ], "id": "en-chinless_wonder-en-noun-AYaWjvHT", "links": [ [ "derogatory", "derogatory" ], [ "ineffectual", "ineffectual" ], [ "upper-class", "upper class" ], [ "dim-witted", "dim-witted" ], [ "weak", "weak" ], [ "indecisive", "indecisive" ], [ "character", "character" ], [ "gain", "gain" ], [ "position", "position" ], [ "nepotism", "nepotism" ], [ "social", "social" ], [ "connection", "connection" ] ], "raw_glosses": [ "(UK, slang, derogatory) An ineffectual upper-class man, typically dim-witted and of a weak or indecisive character, frequently one who gained his position through nepotism or social connections." ], "synonyms": [ { "word": "upper-class twit" } ], "tags": [ "UK", "derogatory", "slang" ] } ], "word": "chinless wonder" }
{ "etymology_text": "The term is derived from the characteristic recessive chin of some aristocrats, popularly thought to be caused by inbreeding and associated with limited intelligence, and from the idea of a robust chin being an indication of masculinity. The use of wonder is ironic.", "forms": [ { "form": "chinless wonders", "tags": [ "plural" ] } ], "head_templates": [ { "args": {}, "expansion": "chinless wonder (plural chinless wonders)", "name": "en-noun" } ], "lang": "English", "lang_code": "en", "pos": "noun", "senses": [ { "categories": [ "British English", "English countable nouns", "English derogatory terms", "English entries with incorrect language header", "English lemmas", "English multiword terms", "English nouns", "English slang", "English terms with quotations", "Pages with 1 entry", "Pages with entries", "en:People" ], "examples": [ { "ref": "1948, Saturday Review of Literature, volume 31, page 18:", "text": "This was probably the most insufferable social event of a very dull season. The bride blushingly gave her age as forty-two, but the old battle-axe could have been an eye-witness to the San Francisco Fire. At long last, little Dagmar's folks have got her married off to Morty, the chinless wonder. He couldn't hold down a job as grocery clerk, and will be manager of father-in-law's wholesale grocery firm.", "type": "quote" }, { "ref": "1967, The Assistant Librarian, volumes 60–61, page 24:", "text": "She is thin, starved to near perfection […] He, a chinless wonder, a credit to Carnaby Street; they stand hand in hand before the enquiry desk", "type": "quote" }, { "ref": "1979, The Spectator, volume 243, number 1, page 25:", "text": "[Actor] John Harding personified the idle spirit of the times as a tennis-possessed chinless wonder.", "type": "quote" } ], "glosses": [ "An ineffectual upper-class man, typically dim-witted and of a weak or indecisive character, frequently one who gained his position through nepotism or social connections." ], "links": [ [ "derogatory", "derogatory" ], [ "ineffectual", "ineffectual" ], [ "upper-class", "upper class" ], [ "dim-witted", "dim-witted" ], [ "weak", "weak" ], [ "indecisive", "indecisive" ], [ "character", "character" ], [ "gain", "gain" ], [ "position", "position" ], [ "nepotism", "nepotism" ], [ "social", "social" ], [ "connection", "connection" ] ], "raw_glosses": [ "(UK, slang, derogatory) An ineffectual upper-class man, typically dim-witted and of a weak or indecisive character, frequently one who gained his position through nepotism or social connections." ], "synonyms": [ { "word": "upper-class twit" } ], "tags": [ "UK", "derogatory", "slang" ] } ], "word": "chinless wonder" }
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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-01-10 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-01-01 using wiktextract (df33d17 and 4ed51a5). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
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