different between ninny vs dunderhead

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?n?ni/
• Rhymes: -?ni

Noun

ninny (plural ninnies)

1. (informal) A silly or foolish person.

   Synonym: dummkopf

   • c. 1610-11, William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act III scene ii^[2]:

     Caliban: What a pied ninny's this! Thou scurvy patch! […]

   • 1962, John D. MacDonald

     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.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:idiot

Related terms

• nincompoop
• ninnyish
• ninnyism
• ninnyhammer

Translations

English

Etymology

dunder +? head

Noun

dunderhead (plural dunderheads)

1. (somewhat dated) A stupid person; a dunce.
   • 1883, Mark Twain, Life on the Mississippi, ch. 6:

     You're the stupidest dunderhead I ever saw or ever heard of, so help me Moses!

   • 1915, Basil King, The Side Of The Angels, ch. 3:

     Poor old fellow's a dunderhead. That's where it is in a nutshell. Never could make a living. . . . Nice old chap as ever lived. Only impractical, dreamy. Gentle as a sheep—and no more capable of running that big, expensive plant than a motherly old ewe.

   • 2004 May 23, Maureen Dowd, "Bay of Goats," New York Times (retrieved 29 Nov 2017):

     Cheney & Company swooned over Mr. Chalabi because he was telling them what they wanted to hear. . . . A half-dozen dunderheads who thought they knew everything assumed they could control Mr. Chalabi and use him as the instrument of their utopian fantasies.

Alternative forms

• dinderhead (Southwestern England)

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:fool

Derived terms

• dunderheaded