moron, idiot, imbecile

moron, idiot, imbecile
Such experts in dealing with the human mind as psychologists and psychiatrists have never agreed on the exact meanings of these terms for mental deficiency. Each word is loosely used for individuals who seem silly, stupid, dull, half-witted, and foolish; each is often rejected in favor of dunce, dolt, and numskull. In the scale of mental ability, an idiot ranks below a moron or an imbecile. An idiot is one judged to be utterly senseless, foolish, and hopelessly deficient in developing beyond the mental age of three or four. An imbecile ranks above an idiot but lacks the capacity to develop beyond a mental age of seven or eight. A moron is someone with an intelligence quotient of 50 to 75 and a mental age of somewhere between eight and twelve years.

Dictionary of problem words and expressions. . 1975.

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  • imbecile — See moron. See moron, idiot, imbecile …   Dictionary of problem words and expressions

  • idiot — See moron. See moron, idiot, imbecile …   Dictionary of problem words and expressions

  • moron — See moron, idiot, imbecile …   Dictionary of problem words and expressions

  • idiot — id·i·ot / i dē ət/ n: a person with esp. profound mental retardation ◇ While the terms idiot imbecile, and moron survive in many state codes and statutes, they are generally no longer used in both medical and legal contexts. The modern… …   Law dictionary

  • idiot — imbecile, moron, *fool, simpleton, natural …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • moron — I (New American Roget s College Thesaurus) n. simpleton, half wit, imbecile. See ignorance. II (Roget s IV) n. Syn. feeble minded person, mentally handicapped person, retardate, imbecile, idiot*, simpleton, natural, goose*, addlepate*, dullard,… …   English dictionary for students

  • moron — n 1. retardate, Sl. retard, slow learner, Euph. special or exceptional student; (all collectively) the mentally handicapped, the educable mentally retarded, EMR, the trainable mentally handicapped, TMR. 2.Informal. idiot, imbecile, mooncalf, Sl.… …   A Note on the Style of the synonym finder

  • Moron (psychology) — Moron is a term once used in psychology to denote mild mental retardation.[1] The term was closely tied with the American eugenics movement.[2] Once the term became popularized, it fell out of use by the psychological community, as it was used… …   Wikipedia

  • imbecile — (adj.) 1540s, imbecille weak, feeble (especially in reference to the body), from M.Fr. imbecile (15c.), from L. imbecillus weak, feeble (see IMBECILITY (Cf. imbecility)). Sense shifted to mental weakness from mid 18c. As a noun, feeble minded… …   Etymology dictionary

  • imbecile — [adj] stupid, foolish asinine, backward, deranged, dim witted, dull, fatuous, feeble minded, idiotic, imbecilic, inane, ludicrous, moronic, simple, simple minded, slow, thick, witless; concept 402 Ant. brainy, intelligent, smart imbecile [n] very …   New thesaurus

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