Half-witted — Meaning, Definition & Synonyms

Half-witted (adjective) — Senses, Synonyms & Antonyms

1. not having or showing an ability to absorb ideas readily

   "the young genius mastered calculus while his peers, who seemed half-witted in comparison, labored over basic addition and subtraction"

   similar: airheaded, birdbrained, bonehead, boneheaded, brain-dead, brainless, bubbleheaded, chuckleheaded, dense, dim, dim-witted, doltish, dopey, dorky (slang), dull, dumb, dunderheaded, empty-headed, fatuous, gormless (chiefly British), knuckleheaded, lamebrain, lunkheaded, mindless, oafish, obtuse, opaque, pinheaded, senseless, simple, slow, slow-witted, soft, softheaded, stupid, thick, thick-witted, thickheaded, unintelligent, unsmart, vacuous, weak-minded, witless
   related: cretinous, feebleminded, simpleminded, boobish, foolish, idiotic, imbecile, moronic, ignorant, illiterate, lowbrow, uneducated, uninformed, unintellectual, untaught, unthinking, absurd, asinine, balmy, cockeyed, crackpot, crazy, cuckoo, daffy, daft, dippy, dotty, featherheaded, fool, half-baked, harebrained, insane, kooky, loony, mad, nonsensical, nutty, preposterous, sappy, screwball, silly, tomfool, unwise, wacky, zany, fallacious, illogical, invalid, irrational, unreasonable
   opposite: apt, brainy, bright, brilliant, clever, fast, hyperintelligent, intelligent, keen, nimble, quick, quick-witted, sharp, sharp-witted, smart, supersmart, ultrasmart
   near: ingenious, resourceful, acute, astute, discerning, insightful, keen, knowing, perceptive, percipient, perspicacious, sagacious, sage, sapient, savvy, wise, cerebral, erudite, highbrow, intellectual, knowledgeable, learned, literate, scholarly, thinking, well-read, educated, informed, schooled, skilled, trained, crafty, cunning, foxy, shrewd, wily, judicious, prudent, sane, sensible, sound, logical, rational, reasonable, valid

2. showing or marked by a lack of good sense or judgment

   "had the half-witted idea to try to swim across the raging river, and would have drowned if someone hadn't rescued him"

   similar: absurd, asinine, balmy, barmy (chiefly British), batty, brainless, bubbleheaded, cockeyed, crackbrained, crackpot, crazy, cuckoo, daffy, daft, dippy, dotty, fatuous, featherheaded, fool, foolish, fruity (slang), gaga, half-baked, harebrained, inept, insane, jerky, kooky, loony, loony tunes, lunatic (informal), lunkheaded, mad, meshuga, nonsensical, nutty, preposterous, sappy, screwball, senseless, silly, simpleminded, stupid, tomfool, unwise, wacko, wacky, weak-minded, witless, zany, out to lunch
   related: airheaded, birdbrained, boobish, brain-dead, chowderheaded, chuckleheaded, clueless, dense, dim, dim-witted, doltish, dopey, dorky (slang), dull, dumb, dunderheaded, empty-headed, feebleminded, gormless (chiefly British), idiotic, imbecile, knuckleheaded, lamebrain, mindless, moronic, oafish, obtuse, opaque, pinheaded, simple, slow, slow-witted, soft, softheaded, thoughtless, thick, thickheaded, unintelligent, vacuous, fallacious, illogical, invalid, irrational, nonrational, surd, unreasonable, unreasoning, unsound, weak, farcical, laughable, ludicrous, ridiculous, notional, buffoonish, clownish, ill-advised, unconsidered, unreasoned
   opposite: judicious, prudent, sagacious, sage, sane, sapient, sensible, sound, wise
   near: brainy, bright, clever, intelligent, smart, logical, rational, reasonable, valid, well-advised