dingbats
dingbats Lexical Profile
dingbats Game Scores & Validity
• noun
North American Plural form of dingbat: stupid, foolish, or eccentric people.
"He complained that the neighborhood committee was being run by a bunch of well-meaning dingbats."
Plural form of dingbat: typographical ornaments, symbols, or decorative characters (such as stars, arrows, or fleurons) used in printing and digital fonts.
"The graphic designer used decorative dingbats to separate the chapters in the printed program."
North American Plural form of dingbat: gadgets, widgets, or small objects whose exact name is unknown or forgotten.
"The bottom drawer of the workbench was cluttered with rusty screws, washers, and assorted metal dingbats."
Australian Delirium tremens, madness, or eccentric behavior (especially in phrases such as 'the dingbats').
"The old prospector had lived alone in the outback for so long that locals reckoned he had a touch of the dingbats."
• adjective
Australian Eccentric, foolish, or mentally unbalanced (used predicatively in Australian and New Zealand slang).
"After spending three months isolated at the remote weather station, the crew started going a bit dingbats."
Word Nuance & Usage
As an adjective meaning eccentric or mentally unstable, 'dingbats' is restricted to Australian and New Zealand slang and is used only as a predicate adjective (e.g., 'she went completely dingbats').