dumbs
- 1Third-person singular simple present of dumb.
The network dumbs down its science coverage to chase a wider audience.
Each rewrite dumbs the report down a little more, until the nuance is gone.
Note
Only the verb has this form: the adjective, whether it means unable to speak or unwilling to, never takes an -s. Dumbs is always transitive and needs an object, as when the network dumbs its coverage or a rewrite dumbs a report. Its dated sense of silencing someone belongs to older prose. Current use leans toward making something, or someone, seem or become less intelligent. With plural subjects and after modals, the bare dumb returns.
dumbs is a form of dumb
dumb, verb: To reduce the intellectual demands of something; make it simpler than it was. Full entry
- Spelling
- dumb → dumbs: add -s
- Sound
- The ending sounds like /z/.
Use it in a sentence
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