gormless

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

gormless

/ˈɡɔːmləs/ UK

Rhymes with -ɔː(ɹ)mləs

Where it comes from

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.

adjective more gormless · most gormless · gaumless · gawmless

Commonwealth, Ireland, UK, of a person Lacking intelligence, sense or understanding; foolish. Did I ever look so stupid: so gormless as Joseph calls it?
Similar: dull, slow, stupid, ignorant, inexperienced, naive

Translations

Every language

adj lacking intelligence or understanding; foolish

Français	absurde, puéril
Deutsch	dämlich
Русский	бестолко́вый bestolkóvyj

Talk about this word

Cite this

MLA

"gormless." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/gormless. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

gormless. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/gormless

Chicago

"gormless." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/gormless.

BibTeX

@misc{gormless_2026,
  title = {gormless},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/gormless},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}