Dingbat vs Idiot - What's the difference?
dingbat | idiot |
(informal) A silly, crazy or stupid person.
* 2003, The Gilmore Girls (TV, episode 4.07)
* 1978, World according to Garp , John Irving, chapter 2
(typography) A special ornamental typographical symbol, such as a bullet, an arrow, a pointing hand etc.
* 1982, The Elements of Editing: A Modern Guide for Editors and Journalists , Arthur Plotnik, p.8
(architecture) An architectural style of apartment building, where the second storey overhangs an area for parking cars.
(pejorative) A person of low general intelligence.
(obsolete, medicine, psychology) A person who lacks the capacity to develop beyond the mental age of a normal four-year-old.
As nouns the difference between dingbat and idiot
is that dingbat is (informal) a silly, crazy or stupid person while idiot is (pejorative) a person of low general intelligence.dingbat
English
Noun
(en noun)- "The fire department is out here because some dingbat parked in the red zone."
- "'Midge was such a dingbat' , Jenny Fields wrote in her autobiografy, 'that she went to Hawaii for a vacation during World War Two.'"
- "The compulsive editor, when checking the specs on an article, can't help checking also for such items as initial capital and closing dingbat , if they are used routinely. These decorative items have a way of being forgotten..."
See also
* wingdingsidiot
English
Alternative forms
* eejit * idjit, idget (eye dialect)Noun
(en noun)- usage note This may be used pejoratively, as an insult. It is a weak insult, however, and between close friends, family members, or lovers, is often completely nonaggressive.
