doofus

a foolish person

TRANSLATION

doofus = der Idiot (woerterbuch.info) --- GOOGLE INDEX doofus: approximately 1,000,000 hits

STATISTICS

IN THE PRESS

Put mobile phone blocking equipment in every theatre! Don't you just hate it when the DOOFUS next to you starts taking a phone call right in the middle of a movie?

(www.pennlive.com)

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"(U.S. President George W.) Bush may seem like a DOOFUS, but he always comes across as a human being."

- James Pennebaker, University of Texas social psychologist

Did you
know?

doofus
noun, slang

- an incompetent, foolish, or stupid person

(The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

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WORD ORIGIN

The origin of "doofus" is unknown, but likely is a variant of "goofus", which in turn stems from goofy, an adjective that means silly, ridiculous.

Doofus is primarily an American English word that has become part of the phrase "doofus dads", such as in fathers. This expression is used to describe the goofy and oftentimes helpless fathers that are so often seen in American television situation comedies. One of the most well known is Homer Simpson, the catastrophic father of the famous Simpson cartoon family.

These "doofus dads" are usually portrayed as bumbling idiots who, despite loving and being loved by their families, are constantly ridiculed for making a mess of almost everything they become involved in. But at the (happy) end of each show, the father is typically situated on the couch where he gets a group hug from his family - and they all live happily ever after.

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SYNONYMS

blockhead, boob, booby, cretin, dimwit, donkey, dork, dumb ox, dumbbell, dunce, dunderhead, fool, halfwit, ignoramus, imbecile, jerk, kook, meathead, mental defective, moron, nincompoop, ninny, nitwit, numbskull, pinhead, pointy head, simpleton, tomfool, twit

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ANTONYMS

brain, genius, intellectual, prodigy

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SMUGGLE OWAD INTO TODAY'S CONVERSATION:

"What doofus left the office lights on all night?"

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