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Ninny vs Imbecile - What's the difference?

ninny | imbecile | Related terms |

Ninny is a related term of imbecile.


As nouns the difference between ninny and imbecile

is that ninny is a silly or foolish person while imbecile is (obsolete) a person with limited (l) (l) who can perform (l) and think only like a young child, in medical circles meaning a person who lacks the capacity to develop beyond the mental age of a normal five to seven-year-old child.

As an adjective imbecile is

(dated) destitute of strength, whether of body or mind; feeble; impotent; especially, mentally weak.

ninny

English

Noun

(ninnies)
  • a silly or foolish person
  • * {{quote-book
    • , year=1607 , author=John Marston , title=What you will , chapter=Act 5, Scene 1 citation , page=three of sheet G3 , passage=Byd.'' ...a good cheeke, an inticing eye, a smooth skinne, a well shapt leg, a faire hand, you cannot bring a wench into a fooles parradize for you?
    ''Sim.     Not I by this garter, I am a foole, a very Ninny I, how call you her? how call you her? }}
  • * "Ninny — that soft, smiling, self-effacing, apologetic fellow, the type who is terribly sorry when you happen to step on his foot, the kind you can borrow money from in the certainty he will never demand you repay it." — (1962)

    • Related terms

    * nincompoop * ninnyish * ninnyism * picaninny, piccaninny, pickaninny

    imbecile

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (obsolete) A person with limited (l) (l) who can perform (l) and think only like a young child, in medical circles meaning a person who lacks the capacity to develop beyond the mental age of a normal five to seven-year-old child.
  • (pejorative) A .

    • Usage notes

    * In modern times, “imbecile” is often used in (l) (l).

    Synonyms

    * See also

    Derived terms

    * imbecilic (adjective) * imbecility (noun)

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • (dated) Destitute of strength, whether of body or mind; feeble; impotent; especially, mentally weak.
    • hospitals for the imbecile and insane