gormless

English

WOTD – 7 January 2007

Alternative forms

• gaumless, gawmless

Etymology

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

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɔːmləs/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (General Australian):

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• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)mləs

Adjective

gormless (comparative more gormless, superlative most gormless)

1. (chiefly UK, Commonwealth, 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.”

Synonyms

• (lacking intelligence): dull, slow, stupid; ignorant, inexperienced, naive

Derived terms

• gormlessly, gormlessness

Translations

lacking intelligence or understanding; foolish

• Czech: vypatlaný, tupý (cs), nablblý, blbý (cs)
• Dutch: onnozel (nl), onhandig (nl), naïef (nl)
• French: absurde (fr), puéril (fr)
• German: dämlich (de)
• Russian: бестолко́вый (ru) (bestolkóvyj)