What does nincompoop mean?
A nincompoop is a foolish, silly, or ineffectual person. The word is informal and carries a contemptuous tone, although friends or performers may use it playfully for comic effect. It typically describes someone whose foolishness is conspicuous, persistent, or mildly absurd: the person who repeatedly loses important objects, misunderstands an obvious instruction, or attempts a task with comic incompetence. In older uses, the word could be more serious and imply mental incapacity, but in contemporary English it usually functions as a broad insult rather than a clinical description. A nincompoop is therefore comparable to a fool, simpleton, or ninny, though the choice of word can reveal the speaker’s attitude toward the person being described. Because it is blunt and potentially offensive, it is less appropriate in formal writing or when describing a person without joking intent.
nounA foolish, silly, or ineffectual person. The term is informal and usually contemptuous or humorous rather than sympathetic.
- A foolish, silly, or ineffectual person.
"He forgot his umbrella, keys, and train ticket—a regular nincompoop."
"I left my keys in the fridge like a nincompoop."
"The old comedy presents its pompous professor as a thoroughly comic nincompoop."
The regular plural is nincompoops.
"The children pretended the absent-minded inventor was surrounded by nincompoops."
Nincompoop is a comic Latin makeover of “not of sound mind”—a label for a fool that sounds almost respectable.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does nincompoop come from?
The word appeared in the 17th century in a jocular alteration of the Italian nincompoopo. Its ultimate source is the Latin phrase non compos mentis, meaning “not of sound mind.” The comic reshaping helped turn a formal Latin diagnosis into an English label for an absurd or foolish person.
Related word forms
How nincompoop is actually used
This is an informal, usually derogatory word. It may be used jokingly among friends, but it can sound insulting or insulting to others in formal or sensitive contexts.
Easily confused with nincompoop
Both words can denote a foolish person, though nitwit often suggests mild silliness or a supposedly dull intellect, while nincompoop is more generally disparaging.
Nimrod can also mean a foolish person in modern informal use, but it is chiefly remembered from the hunting sense associated with the biblical figure of Nimrod.