noun
dunce
a stupid person; these words are used to express a low opinion of someone's intelligence
Where it comes from
Dunce comes from the name of John Duns Scotus, a major medieval philosopher and theologian. His adherents were called Dunses or Dunsmen.
How the meaning developed
Renaissance humanists hostile to scholastic philosophy used the followers' name contemptuously for defenders of old learning. The label widened from an intellectual opponent to a slow or stupid person.
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Sources
Definitions adapted from Open English WordNet where applicable. License and attribution. Word-history text comes from Lexifour’s sourced social research; pages are assembled automatically, not individually fact-checked on every update.
Updated 2026-09-25. Report a correction.