Imbecility

5 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Imbecility \Im`be*cil"i*ty\, n.; pl. {Imbecilities}. [L.
     imbecillitas: cf. F. imb['e]cillit['e].]
     The quality of being imbecile; weakness; feebleness, esp. of
     mind.
     [1913 Webster]
  


           Cruelty . . . argues not only a depravedness of nature,
           but also a meanness of courage and imbecility of mind.
                                                    --Sir W.
                                                    Temple.
     [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: This term is used specifically to denote natural
           weakness of the mental faculties, affecting one's power
           to act reasonably or intelligently.
  
     Syn: Debility; infirmity; weakness; feebleness; impotence.
          See {Debility}.
          [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  imbecility
       n 1: retardation more severe than a moron but not as severe as an
            idiot
       2: a stupid mistake [syn: {stupidity}, {betise}, {folly}, {foolishness}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  88 Moby Thesaurus words for "imbecility":
     amentia, arrested development, asininity, backwardness, battiness,
     blithering idiocy, brainlessness, buffoonery, clownishness,
     crackpottedness, crankiness, craziness, cretinism, daffiness,
     desipience, disability, disablement, disqualification,
     eccentricity, fatuity, fatuousness, folly, foolery, foolheadedness,
     foolishness, frivolity, frivolousness, giddiness, goofiness,
     half-wittedness, idiocy, idiotism, inability, inadequacy, inanity,
     incapability, incapacitation, incapacity, incompetence,
     incompetency, inefficiency, ineptitude, infancy, infantilism,
     inferiority, insanity, insufficiency, legal incapacity, lunacy,
     madness, mental defectiveness, mental deficiency, mental handicap,
     mental retardation, mindlessness, minority, mongolianism,
     mongolism, mongoloid idiocy, moronism, moronity, niaiserie,
     nugacity, nuttiness, profound idiocy, queerness, retardation,
     retardment, sappiness, screwiness, senselessness, silliness,
     simple-wittedness, simplemindedness, simpleness, simplicity,
     stupidity, subnormality, thoughtlessness, triflingness, triviality,
     unfitness, wackiness, wardship, weirdness, witlessness, zaniness,
     zanyism
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  IMBECILITY, med. jur. A weakness of the mind, caused by the absence or 
  obliteration of natural or acquired ideas; or it is described to be an 
  abnormal deficiency either in those faculties which acquaint us with the 
  qualities and ordinary relations of things, or in those which furnish us 
  with the moral motives that regulate our relations and conduct towards our 
  fellow men. It is frequently attended with excessive activity. of one or 
  more of the animal propensities. 
       2. Imbecility differs from idiocy in this, that the subjects of the 
  former possess some intellectual capacity, though inferior in degree to that 
  possessed by the great mass of mankind; while those of the latter are 
  utterly destitute of reason. Imbecility differs also from stupidity. (q.v.) 
  The former consists in a defect of the mind, which renders it unable to 
  examine the data presented to it by the senses, and therefrom to deduce the 
  correct judgment; that is, a defect of intensity, or reflective power. The 
  latter is occasioned by a want of intensity, or perceptive power. 
       3. There are various degrees of this disease. It has been attempted to 
  classify the degrees of imbecility, but the careful observer of nature will 
  perhaps be soon satisfied that the shades of difference between one species 
  and another, are almost imperceptible. Ray, Med. Jur. ch. 3; 2 Beck, Med. 
  Jur. 550, 542; 1 Hagg. Ecc. R. 384; 2 Philm. R. 449; 1 Litt. R. 252, 5 John. 
  Ch. R. 161; 1 Litt. R. 101; Des Maladies mentales, considerees dans leurs 
  rapports avec la legislation civille et criminelle, 8; Georget, Discussion 
  medico-legale sur la folie, 140. 
  
  

From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:

  IMBECILITY, n.  A kind of divine inspiration, or sacred fire affecting
  censorious critics of this dictionary.