dumb

Less common meanings

6. 6
   adjectivedated

   Silent; making no sound, speaking no words, or unwilling to talk.

   The actors performed a dumb show before the spoken scene began.

   to pierce into the dumb past

   1881, John Campbell Shairp, Aspects of Poetry

   Similarsilent, mute, speechless, wordless

   Note

   Applied to gestures, signs and performances rather than to people. Shakespeare's "dumb significants" in Henry VI, Part 1 are signals made without words, and his Sonnet 23 calls books the "dumb presagers" of the heart. John Campbell Shairp's "the dumb past" (1881) stretches it further, to a time that cannot speak to us. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

   • Henry VI, Part 1 contains Shakespeare's phrase “dumb significants,” referring to wordless signals; Richard Plantagenet speaks it. folger.edu
   • Shakespeare's Sonnet 23 calls books “dumb presagers” of the speaker's heart. folger.edu
   • John Campbell Shairp used the phrase “the dumb past.” en.wiktionary.org
   • Aspects of Poetry, the work containing Shairp's phrase, was first published in 1881. lyriktheorie.uni-wuppertal.de
7. 7
   adjectivedated

   Used as an intensifier expressing contempt or annoyance; damn, damned.

   Similarstupid, damn, blasted, darn

   Note

   The contemptuous adjective shares its origin with the "very" adverb: both soften damn. Glenna Whiteaker Wilding's Tales of a Ridgerunner (2002) gives the classic frame, "It's a dumb shame," exactly where damn shame would stand. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • The contemptuous adjective and the intensifying adverb both originate as softened forms of damn. en.wiktionary.org
   • The book contains the quoted words, spoken by Pap, as an expression of annoyance or disappointment. en.wiktionary.org
8. 8
   verbtransitive

   To portray or represent someone as stupid.

   Similarcaricature, ridicule, lampoon, mock

   Note

   Nothing changes in the person here, only the portrait, and that is what sets it apart from "to make stupid". Stephen Oppenheimer's The Real Eve (2003) writes of "the unproven dumbing of the Neanderthals," meaning the habit of depicting them as dim-witted. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • This sense means representing someone as stupid, rather than making that person stupid. en.wiktionary.org
   • Stephen Oppenheimer wrote The Real Eve. en.wikipedia.org
   • Oppenheimer uses the quoted phrase to describe portraying Neanderthals as stupid. en.wiktionary.org
9. 9
   adjectivedated

   Having no input or voice in how things are run.

   Similarvoiceless, powerless, silent, unrepresented

   Note

   Silence here is political: the people meant are those who have no say in how affairs are conducted. Thomas Carlyle's Past and Present (1843) gives the memorable collocation "the dumb millions born to toil," where the word means voiceless rather than mute. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • Thomas Carlyle wrote Past and Present, first published in 1843. gutenberg.org
   • Past and Present contains the exact phrase "the dumb millions born to toil" in Carlyle's own prose. gutenberg.org
   • The Carlyle example illustrates the meaning of having no voice in running affairs, rather than physical inability to speak. en.wiktionary.org
10. 10
    veryadverbslangUS

    Very; extremely (used to intensify another word).

    The new apartment is dumb expensive, but the view is worth it.

    She's dumb talented at drawing portraits from memory.

    Similarmad, wicked, hella, bare

    Note

    Born as a minced oath for damn, this intensifier sits directly before an adjective and takes no comparison. "It's dumb good," from Don Winslow's The Force (2017), means very good, not foolishly good, so it should not be confused with the "stupid" sense. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

    • The intensifying adverb is derived from a minced oath for damn. en.wiktionary.org
    • Don Winslow wrote The Force, published in 2017. donwinslow.com
    • The Force contains the exact dialogue "It's dumb good." en.wiktionary.org
    • Dumb means very or extremely in the quoted example. en.wiktionary.org
11. 11
    verbdatedtransitive

    To silence; cause to make no sound or speak no words.

    The paralysis of the Northern conscience, the dumbing of the Northern voice, were coming to an end.

    1911, Lindsay Swift, William Lloyd Garrison

    Similarsilence, muzzle, gag, hush, mute

    Note

    The verb has its own Old English history, glimpsed in ādumbian, "to become mute, keep silence, hold one's peace." Shakespeare uses it in Antony and Cleopatra: "what I would have spoke / Was beastly dumbed by him." Lindsay Swift's William Lloyd Garrison (1911) still writes of "the dumbing of the Northern voice." Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 6 facts

    • The verb has an Old English antecedent represented by ādumbian. en.wiktionary.org
    • Ādumbian meant to become mute, keep silence, or hold one's peace. en.wiktionary.org
    • The quotation occurs in Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra; Alexas speaks it. gutenberg.org
    • The quoted wording is accurate. gutenberg.org
    • Lindsay Swift wrote William Lloyd Garrison, first published in 1911. openlibrary.org
    • Swift's book contains the quoted phrase. en.wiktionary.org
12. 12
    adjectiveobsolete

    Lacking brightness or clearness in color; dim and dull.

    Her stern, which was painted of a dumb white or dun color.

    1720, Daniel Defoe, The Life

    Note

    Color described in the language of silence. Daniel Defoe's Captain Singleton (1720) paints a ship's stern "a dumb white or dun color," a white with no brightness in it. One root proposed for the word meant "darken, obscure," and if that account is right, this rare sense echoes the word's distant origins. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • Daniel Defoe wrote Captain Singleton, whose first edition appeared in 1720. kcctreasures.com
    • The novel describes a ship's stern using the quoted phrase; the opened transcription spells the final word 'colour'. gutenberg.org