Dictionary

imbecility en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˌɪmbəˈsɪləti/
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From Middle English inbecillite, from Middle French imbecilité, imbecillité, and its etymon Classical Latin imbēcillitās. By surface analysis, imbecile + -ity.

Meanings

1. (uncountable) The quality of being imbecile; weakness; feebleness, especially of mind.
   • The police prosecutor hammered at him and the bench had a go at him, and they commanded from him such a madhouse particularity between the distinctions of looking and seeing that Bradly was reduced to imbecility, and so contradictious were his mutterings that he was openly suspected of trying to shield that wretched tramp, whom Bradly would have gladly seen sunk in the bottomless pit reserved for snoopers. 1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 89:
   • He [Ben Shapiro] wielded a particularly pointed arrow at Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News host, for engaging in what he said was “an act of moral imbecility,” by recently airing a softball interview with Nick Fuentes, an avowed antisemite. 2025 December 20, Richard Fausset, Ken Bensinger, quoting Ben Shapiro, “Turning Point’s Annual Gathering Turns Into a Gripefest”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:
2. (countable, uncountable) Something imbecilic; a stupid action, behaviour, etc.
   • The procedure of musical comedy is not reducible to a coherent formula, so that its imbecilities may be annotated by super imbecilities. 1950, Norman Lindsay, Dust or Polish?, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 37:
   • The Parnassian theory of art is mere imbecility. 1895, Degeneration, New York: D. Appleton and Company, translation of Entartung by Max Simon Nordau, page 270:

Forms

Deriveds

imbecilitate

Translations (25)

tr eblehlik (quality of imbecile, stupid behaviour) · gv meecheeallid (quality of imbecile, stupid behaviour) · gv ommidjys (quality of imbecile, stupid behaviour) · la imbecillitas (quality of imbecile, stupid behaviour) · ru дебили́зм (quality of imbecile, stupid behaviour) · gv anlheil (quality of imbecile, stupid behaviour) · ru слабоу́мие (quality of imbecile, stupid behaviour) · el ηλιθιότητα (quality of imbecile, stupid behaviour) · tr alıklık (quality of imbecile, stupid behaviour) · gv meecheeall (quality of imbecile, stupid behaviour) · ru имбеци́льность (quality of imbecile, stupid behaviour) · bg малоумие (quality of imbecile, stupid behaviour) · ota شاشقینلق (quality of imbecile, stupid behaviour) · ca imbecil·litat (quality of imbecile, stupid behaviour) · tr ahmaklık (quality of imbecile, stupid behaviour) · gv jei-hushtaght (quality of imbecile, stupid behaviour) · gv anlheiltys (quality of imbecile, stupid behaviour) · tr aptallık (quality of imbecile, stupid behaviour) · fr imbécilité (quality of imbecile, stupid behaviour) · tr behalet (quality of imbecile, stupid behaviour) · it imbecillità (quality of imbecile, stupid behaviour) · bg слабоумие (quality of imbecile, stupid behaviour) · oc imbecillitat (quality of imbecile, stupid behaviour) · el βλακεία (quality of imbecile, stupid behaviour) · es imbecilidad (quality of imbecile, stupid behaviour)