"gormless" meaning in English

See gormless in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adjective

IPA: /ˈɡɔːmləs/ [Received-Pronunciation] Audio: en-us-gormless.ogg , en-au-gormless.ogg Forms: more gormless [comparative], most gormless [superlative]
Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)mləs Etymology: From dialectal English gaum (“heed, attention”) + -less (“without”), from Old Norse gaum, from Proto-Germanic *gaumaz, *gaumō (“heed, attention”). The ‘r’ found in this spelling is a vowel-lengthening device common in non-rhotic dialects of English. Etymology templates: {{suffix|en|gaum|less|t1=heed, attention|t2=without}} gaum (“heed, attention”) + -less (“without”), {{der|en|non|gaum}} Old Norse gaum, {{der|en|gem-pro|*gaumaz}} Proto-Germanic *gaumaz Head templates: {{en-adj}} gormless (comparative more gormless, superlative most gormless)
  1. (chiefly UK, Commonwealth, Ireland, of a person) Lacking intelligence, sense or understanding; foolish. Tags: Commonwealth, Ireland, UK Synonyms: gaumless, gawmless Synonyms (lacking intelligence): dull, slow, stupid, ignorant, inexperienced, naive Derived forms: gormlessly, gormlessness Translations (lacking intelligence or understanding; foolish): vypatlaný (Czech), tupý (Czech), nablblý (Czech), blbý (Czech), onnozel (Dutch), onhandig (Dutch), naïef (Dutch), absurde (French), puéril (French), dämlich (German), бестолко́вый (bestolkóvyj) (Russian)

Alternative forms

{
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        "1": "en",
        "2": "gaum",
        "3": "less",
        "t1": "heed, attention",
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      "name": "suffix"
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        "2": "gem-pro",
        "3": "*gaumaz"
      },
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      "name": "der"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From dialectal English gaum (“heed, attention”) + -less (“without”), from Old Norse gaum, from Proto-Germanic *gaumaz, *gaumō (“heed, attention”). The ‘r’ found in this spelling is a vowel-lengthening device common in non-rhotic dialects of English.",
  "forms": [
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      "form": "more gormless",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
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    },
    {
      "form": "most gormless",
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        "superlative"
      ]
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      "args": {},
      "expansion": "gormless (comparative more gormless, superlative most gormless)",
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
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      "categories": [
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          "kind": "other",
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      "derived": [
        {
          "word": "gormlessly"
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        {
          "word": "gormlessness"
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1847 December, Ellis Bell [pseudonym; Emily Brontë], chapter XXI, in Wuthering Heights: […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Thomas Cautley Newby, […], →OCLC:",
          "text": "Did I ever look so stupid: so gormless as Joseph calls it?",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1988, Roald Dahl, Matilda, page 4:",
          "text": "But Mr. and Mrs. Wormwood were both so gormless and so wrapped up in their own silly little lives that they failed to notice anything unusual about their daughter.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1990, Terry Pratchett, Moving Pictures, page 171:",
          "text": "There was a sort of gormless unstoppability about him that she found rather fascinating.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007 July 21, J. K. Rowling [pseudonym; Joanne Rowling], “The Wedding, Auntie Muriel”, in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Harry Potter; 7), London: Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN, page 141:",
          "text": "Hmm. Made an excuse, did he? Not as gormless as he looks in press photographs, then.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2015, Adele Abbott, Witch Is When Everything Went Crazy, page 33:",
          "text": "“Don’t just stand there looking gormless. There’s plenty of work to do in the back.”",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Lacking intelligence, sense or understanding; foolish."
      ],
      "id": "en-gormless-en-adj-QvEKZ0y6",
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          "intelligence",
          "intelligence"
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          "sense"
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          "foolish",
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        "(chiefly UK, Commonwealth, Ireland, of a person) Lacking intelligence, sense or understanding; foolish."
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        "of a person"
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        {
          "sense": "lacking intelligence",
          "word": "dull"
        },
        {
          "sense": "lacking intelligence",
          "word": "slow"
        },
        {
          "sense": "lacking intelligence",
          "word": "stupid"
        },
        {
          "sense": "lacking intelligence",
          "word": "ignorant"
        },
        {
          "sense": "lacking intelligence",
          "word": "inexperienced"
        },
        {
          "sense": "lacking intelligence",
          "word": "naive"
        },
        {
          "word": "gaumless"
        },
        {
          "word": "gawmless"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Commonwealth",
        "Ireland",
        "UK"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "cs",
          "lang": "Czech",
          "sense": "lacking intelligence or understanding; foolish",
          "word": "vypatlaný"
        },
        {
          "code": "cs",
          "lang": "Czech",
          "sense": "lacking intelligence or understanding; foolish",
          "word": "tupý"
        },
        {
          "code": "cs",
          "lang": "Czech",
          "sense": "lacking intelligence or understanding; foolish",
          "word": "nablblý"
        },
        {
          "code": "cs",
          "lang": "Czech",
          "sense": "lacking intelligence or understanding; foolish",
          "word": "blbý"
        },
        {
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "lacking intelligence or understanding; foolish",
          "word": "onnozel"
        },
        {
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "lacking intelligence or understanding; foolish",
          "word": "onhandig"
        },
        {
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "lacking intelligence or understanding; foolish",
          "word": "naïef"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "lacking intelligence or understanding; foolish",
          "word": "absurde"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "lacking intelligence or understanding; foolish",
          "word": "puéril"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "lacking intelligence or understanding; foolish",
          "word": "dämlich"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "bestolkóvyj",
          "sense": "lacking intelligence or understanding; foolish",
          "word": "бестолко́вый"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
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      "ipa": "/ˈɡɔːmləs/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-gormless.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/b/b0/En-us-gormless.ogg/En-us-gormless.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b0/En-us-gormless.ogg"
    },
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      "audio": "en-au-gormless.ogg",
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    }
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  "word": "gormless"
}
{
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "gormlessly"
    },
    {
      "word": "gormlessness"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
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      "args": {
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        "2": "gaum",
        "3": "less",
        "t1": "heed, attention",
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      },
      "expansion": "gaum (“heed, attention”) + -less (“without”)",
      "name": "suffix"
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        "1": "en",
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        "3": "gaum"
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      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "gem-pro",
        "3": "*gaumaz"
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      "name": "der"
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  ],
  "etymology_text": "From dialectal English gaum (“heed, attention”) + -less (“without”), from Old Norse gaum, from Proto-Germanic *gaumaz, *gaumō (“heed, attention”). The ‘r’ found in this spelling is a vowel-lengthening device common in non-rhotic dialects of English.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "more gormless",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most gormless",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
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      "args": {},
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  "pos": "adj",
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        "British English",
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        "Terms with Dutch translations",
        "Terms with French translations",
        "Terms with German translations",
        "Terms with Russian translations"
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          "text": "Did I ever look so stupid: so gormless as Joseph calls it?",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1988, Roald Dahl, Matilda, page 4:",
          "text": "But Mr. and Mrs. Wormwood were both so gormless and so wrapped up in their own silly little lives that they failed to notice anything unusual about their daughter.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1990, Terry Pratchett, Moving Pictures, page 171:",
          "text": "There was a sort of gormless unstoppability about him that she found rather fascinating.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007 July 21, J. K. Rowling [pseudonym; Joanne Rowling], “The Wedding, Auntie Muriel”, in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Harry Potter; 7), London: Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN, page 141:",
          "text": "Hmm. Made an excuse, did he? Not as gormless as he looks in press photographs, then.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2015, Adele Abbott, Witch Is When Everything Went Crazy, page 33:",
          "text": "“Don’t just stand there looking gormless. There’s plenty of work to do in the back.”",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Lacking intelligence, sense or understanding; foolish."
      ],
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          "intelligence"
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        [
          "sense",
          "sense"
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        [
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          "understanding"
        ],
        [
          "foolish",
          "foolish"
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      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(chiefly UK, Commonwealth, Ireland, of a person) Lacking intelligence, sense or understanding; foolish."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "of a person"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Commonwealth",
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      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
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      "audio": "en-us-gormless.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/b/b0/En-us-gormless.ogg/En-us-gormless.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b0/En-us-gormless.ogg"
    },
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      "audio": "en-au-gormless.ogg",
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      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/En-au-gormless.ogg"
    },
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      "rhymes": "-ɔː(ɹ)mləs"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "sense": "lacking intelligence",
      "word": "dull"
    },
    {
      "sense": "lacking intelligence",
      "word": "slow"
    },
    {
      "sense": "lacking intelligence",
      "word": "stupid"
    },
    {
      "sense": "lacking intelligence",
      "word": "ignorant"
    },
    {
      "sense": "lacking intelligence",
      "word": "inexperienced"
    },
    {
      "sense": "lacking intelligence",
      "word": "naive"
    },
    {
      "word": "gaumless"
    },
    {
      "word": "gawmless"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "cs",
      "lang": "Czech",
      "sense": "lacking intelligence or understanding; foolish",
      "word": "vypatlaný"
    },
    {
      "code": "cs",
      "lang": "Czech",
      "sense": "lacking intelligence or understanding; foolish",
      "word": "tupý"
    },
    {
      "code": "cs",
      "lang": "Czech",
      "sense": "lacking intelligence or understanding; foolish",
      "word": "nablblý"
    },
    {
      "code": "cs",
      "lang": "Czech",
      "sense": "lacking intelligence or understanding; foolish",
      "word": "blbý"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "lacking intelligence or understanding; foolish",
      "word": "onnozel"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "lacking intelligence or understanding; foolish",
      "word": "onhandig"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "lacking intelligence or understanding; foolish",
      "word": "naïef"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "lacking intelligence or understanding; foolish",
      "word": "absurde"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "lacking intelligence or understanding; foolish",
      "word": "puéril"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "lacking intelligence or understanding; foolish",
      "word": "dämlich"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "bestolkóvyj",
      "sense": "lacking intelligence or understanding; foolish",
      "word": "бестолко́вый"
    }
  ],
  "word": "gormless"
}

Download raw JSONL data for gormless meaning in English (5.5kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-21 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (d8cb2f3 and 4e554ae). 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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