moron
moron Lexical Profile
moron Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A very foolish, stupid, or senseless person (used informally as a derogatory term).
"He felt like a complete moron after realizing he had locked his keys inside the running car."
In obsolete early 20th-century psychological classification, an adult with a mild intellectual disability, ranked above an imbecile and below average intelligence (associated with a mental age of 8 to 12 years or an IQ of 50 to 69).
"Early twentieth-century psychometric scales categorized patients using clinical labels such as moron, imbecile, and idiot that have long since been abandoned by modern medicine."
Word Nuance & Usage
Originally introduced in 1910 as a clinical psychology term for mild intellectual disability, 'moron' is now entirely obsolete in medical contexts and functions exclusively as an informal, derogatory insult.
• Rhymes for moron
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Coined in 1910 by American psychologist Henry H. Goddard from the Ancient Greek 'moron', the neuter form of 'moros', meaning 'foolish', 'dull', or 'sluggish'.