gormless en · ADJ
Pronunciation
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.
Meanings
-
(Commonwealth, Ireland, UK, of a person) Lacking intelligence, sense or understanding; foolish.
“Don’t just stand there looking gormless. There’s plenty of work to do in the back.”
2015, Adele Abbott, Witch Is When Everything Went Crazy, page 33: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.
1988, Roald Dahl, Matilda, page 4:Hmm. Made an excuse, did he? Not as gormless as he looks in press photographs, then.
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:Did I ever look so stupid: so gormless as Joseph calls it?
1847 December, Ellis Bell [pseudonym; Emily Brontë], chapter XXI, in Wuthering Heights: […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Thomas Cautley Newby, […], →OCLC:Damon’s Odysseus is motivated mostly by anxiety and guilt, though he is also eager to protect his boy (Holland is good at playing a gormless young man of twenty going on twelve).
2026 August 13, Emily Wilson, “An Uncomplicated Man”, in London Review of Books:There was a sort of gormless unstoppability about him that she found rather fascinating.
1990, Terry Pratchett, Moving Pictures, page 171:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| gawmless | alternative | lexicographic | |
| more gormless | Degree=Cmp | lexicographic | |
| most gormless | Degree=Sup | lexicographic | |
| gaumless | alternative | lexicographic |
Deriveds
Relateds
Synonyms
naive (lacking intelligence) · ignorant (lacking intelligence) · dull (lacking intelligence) · stupid (lacking intelligence) · slow (lacking intelligence) · inexperienced (lacking intelligence)
Translations (15)
de dämlich (lacking intelligence or understanding; foolish) · cy di-glem (lacking intelligence or understanding; foolish) · nl onnozel (lacking intelligence or understanding; foolish) · cs blbý (lacking intelligence or understanding; foolish) · ru бестолко́вый (lacking intelligence or understanding; foolish) · cy diamcan (lacking intelligence or understanding; foolish) · fr puéril (lacking intelligence or understanding; foolish) · pl głupi (lacking intelligence or understanding; foolish) · nl onhandig (lacking intelligence or understanding; foolish) · fr absurde (lacking intelligence or understanding; foolish) · cs nablblý (lacking intelligence or understanding; foolish) · pl tępy (lacking intelligence or understanding; foolish) · nl naïef (lacking intelligence or understanding; foolish) · cs tupý (lacking intelligence or understanding; foolish) · cs vypatlaný (lacking intelligence or understanding; foolish)