gormless
English edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
From dialectal English gaum (“heed, attention”) + -less (“without”), from Old Norse gaum, from Proto-Germanic *gaumaz, *gaumō (“heed, attention”). The ‘r’ found in this spelling is a vowel-lengthening device common in non-rhotic dialects of English.
Pronunciation edit
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈɡɔːmləs/
Audio (US) (file) Audio (AU) (file) - Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)mləs
Adjective edit
gormless (comparative more gormless, superlative most gormless)
- (chiefly UK, New Zealand, Australia, Ireland, of a person) Lacking intelligence, sense or understanding; foolish.
- 1847 December, Ellis Bell [pseudonym; Emily Brontë], chapter XXI, in Wuthering Heights: […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Thomas Cautley Newby, […], →OCLC:
- Did I ever look so stupid: so gormless as Joseph calls it?
- 1988, Roald Dahl, Matilda, page 4:
- But Mr. and Mrs. Wormwood were both so gormless and so wrapped up in their own silly little lives that they failed to notice anything unusual about their daughter.
- 1990, Terry Pratchett, Moving Pictures, page 171:
- There was a sort of gormless unstoppability about him that she found rather fascinating.
- 2007 July 21, J. K. Rowling [pseudonym; Joanne Rowling], “The Wedding, Auntie Muriel”, in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Harry Potter; 7), London: Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN, page 141:
- Hmm. Made an excuse, did he? Not as gormless as he looks in press photographs, then.
- 2015, Adele Abbott, Witch Is When Everything Went Crazy, page 33:
- “Don’t just stand there looking gormless. There’s plenty of work to do in the back.”