Dumb vs Imprudent - What's the difference?
dumb | imprudent | Related terms |
(label) Unable to speak; lacking power of speech.
* Hooker
(label) Silent; unaccompanied by words.
* Shakespeare
*
* J. C. Shairp
extremely stupid.
(label) Pointless, foolish, lacking intellectual content or value.
Lacking brightness or clearness, as a colour.
* De Foe
To silence.
* 1911 , Lindsay Swift, William Lloyd Garrison , p. 272,
To make stupid.
* 2003 , Angela Calabrese Barton, Teaching Science for Social Justice , p. 124,
To represent as stupid.
* 2004 , Stephen Oppenheimer, The Real Eve: Modern Man's Journey Out of Africa , p. 107,
To reduce the intellectual demands of.
* 2002 , Deborah Meier, In Schools We Trust: Creating Communities of Learning in an Era of Testing , p. 126,
Not prudent; wanting in prudence or discretion; indiscreet; injudicious; not attentive to consequence; improper.
* 1711 , , The Life and Acts of Matthew Parker , volume 1.
* {{quote-book
, year=1853
, author=Mary Elizabeth Braddon
, title=Phantom Fortune
, chapter=3
* {{quote-book
, year=1864
, author=Jules Verne
, title=Journey to the Interior of the Earth
, chapter=3
Dumb is a related term of imprudent.
As adjectives the difference between dumb and imprudent
is that dumb is (label) unable to speak; lacking power of speech while imprudent is not prudent; wanting in prudence or discretion; indiscreet; injudicious; not attentive to consequence; improper.As a verb dumb
is to silence.dumb
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) dumb, from (etyl) . In ordinary spoken English, a phrase like "He is dumb" is interpreted as "He is stupid" rather than "He lacks the power of speech". The latter example, however, is the original sense of the word. The senses of stupid'', ''unintellectual'', and ''pointless developed under the influence of the (etyl) word dumm.Adjective
(er)- to unloose the very tongues even of dumb creatures
- dumb show
- This spirit, dumb to us, will speak to him.
- to pierce into the dumb past
- You are so dumb ! You don't even know how to make toast!
- This is dumb ! We're driving in circles! We should have asked for directions an hour ago!
- Brendan had the dumb job of moving boxes from one conveyor belt to another.
- Her stern was painted of a dumb white or dun color.
Synonyms
* (unable to speak) dumbstruck, mute, speechless, wordless * (stupid) feeble-minded, idiotic, moronic, stupid * banal, brainless, dopey, silly, stupid, ridiculous, vulgarDerived terms
* dumb as a box of rocks * dumben * dumbhood * dummy * dumbnessEtymology 2
From (etyl) dumbien, from (etyl) dumbian (more commonly in compound .Verb
(en verb)- The paralysis of the Northern conscience, the dumbing of the Northern voice, were coming to an end.
- I think she's dumbing us down, so we won't be smarter than her.
- Bad-mouthing Neanderthals . . . is symptomatic of a need to exclude and even demonize. . . . I suggest that the unproven dumbing of the Neanderthals is an example of the same cultural preconception.
- The ensuing storm caused the department to lower the bar—amid protests that this was dumbing the test down—so that only 80 percent of urban kids would fail.
Derived terms
* dumbness * dumb blonde * dumb down * dumbocracy * dumb-show * dumb terminal * dummy * play dumbimprudent
English
Adjective
(en adjective)- Here Her Majesty took a great dislike at the imprudent behavior of many of the Ministers and Readers.
citation, passage=‘It was a most 'imprudent thing to go up Helvellyn in such weather,’ said Fräulein Müller, shaking her head gloomily as she ate her fish.}}
citation, passage=My uncle, falling back into his absorbing contemplations, had already forgotten my imprudent' words. I merely say ' imprudent , for the great mind of so learned a man of course had no place for love affairs, and happily the grand business of the document gained me the victory.}}