Dictionary

dunderhead en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈdʌn.dɚ.hɛd/ (US)
• (General-American) audio
• /ˈdʌn.də.hɛd/ (UK)

Etymology

From dunder + head.

Meanings

1. (dated) A stupid person; a dunce.
   • Cheney & Company swooned over Mr. Chalabi because he was telling them what they wanted to hear. . . . A half-dozen dunderheads who thought they knew everything assumed they could control Mr. Chalabi and use him as the instrument of their utopian fantasies. 2004 May 23, Maureen Dowd, “Bay of Goats”, in New York Times, retrieved 29 Nov 2017:
   • Poor old fellow's a dunderhead. That's where it is in a nutshell. Never could make a living. […] Nice old chap as ever lived. Only impractical, dreamy. Gentle as a sheep—and no more capable of running that big, expensive plant than a motherly old ewe. 1915, Basil King, chapter 3, in The Side Of The Angels:
   • You're the stupidest dunderhead I ever saw or ever heard of, so help me Moses! 1883, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], “A Cub-pilot's Experience”, in Life on the Mississippi, Boston, Mass.: James R[ipley] Osgood and Company, →OCLC:
   • I am the greatest earthbender in the world! Don't you dunderheads forget it. 2006 December 1, Michael Dante DiMartino, Bryan Konietzko, “The Guru” (21:25 from the start), in Giancarlo Volpe, director, Avatar: The Last Airbender, season 2 (Book Two: Earth), episode 19, spoken by Toph Beifong (Jessie Flower):

Forms

Deriveds

dunderheadism · dunderheaded

Translations (2)

fr cabochon (someone who is not intelligent) · nb dumskalle (someone who is not intelligent)