dunce

== English == === Etymology === 1530, named after John Duns Scotus (c. 1266–1308). Scotus was ironically a well-known Scottish thinker; his followers, however, opposed the philosophers of the Renaissance, and thus "dunce" was first used to describe someone rejecting new knowledge in 1530; later, any person deemed stupid. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /dʌns/ Rhymes: -ʌns === Noun === dunce (plural dunces) An unintelligent person. Synonyms: idiot; see also Thesaurus:idiot ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Translations ==== === References === === Further reading === “dunce”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.