Definition of DUMBASS

dumbass

Meanings

Plural: dumbasses

Noun

  • a stupid person; these words are used to express a low opinion of someone's intelligence
  • A stupid or foolish person.

Adj

  • Stupid, foolish.

Origin / Etymology

From dumb + ass. It is likely that ¹ass (= donkey), not ²ass (= buttocks), was the original sense within this compound noun (solid compound or open compound), but neither sense is precluded, and many people today may uncritically parse the term in the latter way, even if it is misapprehensive. Apparent analogy with forms such as hard-ass and big-ass would naturally lend support to the second parsing. A similar synergy can be seen in the fact that the terms buttload and assload originated as literally meaning a cartload and the load transportable by a single donkey (respectively), but probably most English speakers today would assume that their derivation involves the buttocks.

Scrabble Score: 0

dumbass is not valid in Scrabble (US) TWL Dictionary
dumbass is not valid in Scrabble (MW) Merriam-Webster Dictionary
dumbass is not valid in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 15

dumbass is a valid Words With Friends word