imbecile

From Middle French imbécile, from Latin imbēcillus (“weak, feeble”), literally “without a staff”.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɪmbəˈsiːl/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɪmbəsɪl/, /ˈɪmbəsəl/

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imbecile (plural imbeciles)

1. (obsolete) A person with limited mental capacity who can perform tasks and think only like a young child, in medical circles meaning a person who lacks the capacity to develop beyond the mental age of a normal five- to seven-year-old child.
   • 1956, Parliament of the United Kingdom, “Part I, section 7”, in Sexual Offences Act 1956‎, page 2:

     It is an offence for a man to have unlawful sexual intercourse with a woman whom he knows to be an idiot or imbecile.

2. (derogatory) A fool, an idiot.
   • 1954, Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot‎, →ISBN, page 5:

     VLADIMIR: Because he wouldn't save them. / ESTRAGON: From hell? / VLADIMIR: Imbecile! From death.

   • 2017, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Bad Dad, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN:

     “A rat picked up a drink can and threw it at me?” yelled Mr Big.
     “A big rat, guv’nor? One of them super-rats?” suggested Thumbs.
     “It landed on my head, you imbecile!”

• In modern times, “imbecile” is often used in jocular insults.

• See also Thesaurus:idiot

• imbecilic (adjective)
• imbecility (noun)
• imbecilification

imbecile (comparative more imbecile, superlative most imbecile)

1. (dated) Destitute of strength, whether of body or mind; feeble; impotent; especially, mentally weak.

   hospitals for the imbecile and insane

   • 1899 April, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number MII, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part III (Conclusion), page 647:

     And then that imbecile crowd down on the deck started their little fun, and I could see nothing more for smoke.