1
general::
adj. VERBS appear, be, feel, look, seem, sound I felt really stupid when I realized what had happened. My sister made me look stupid in front of all my friends. | act (informal) I decided it was best to act stupid. ADV. bloody (taboo), damn/damned, exceptionally, extremely, fucking (taboo), incredibly, monumentally, particularly, really, very | absolutely, completely, (just) plain, utterly That was just plain stupid! | not entirely I'm not entirely stupid. I checked the train times before we came out. | a bit, a little, pretty, quite, rather | enough, sufficiently He's stupid enough to believe anything. | crassly, grossly a crassly stupid thing to do
Oxford Collocations Dictionary
2
general::
stupid
showing a total lack of good sense or good judgment. Stupid sounds very strong and is often used when you are annoyed or strongly criticizing someone’s behaviour:
• I wish you’d stop asking stupid questions. • It was stupid of me to leave the door unlocked. • Well, if you’re stupid enough to skate on the lake, you deserve to fall in.
silly
doing or saying things that are not sensible or serious, and that may make you feel embarrassed later. Silly sounds much gentler than stupid:
• a silly mistake • Don’t be so silly! There’s nothing wrong with you. • I think you’re silly to worry so much about your hair.
daft
informal not sensible, often in a way that is also amusing:
• Is this another of your daft ideas? • Don’t be daft! Of course you’re not too old to go clubbing.
dumb
informal especially American English stupid:
• a dumb question • He was dumb enough to believe her. • Oh, I just did the dumbest thing back there, I forgot my purse.
foolish
stupid. Foolish sounds rather formal and is used mainly in written English. The usual words to use in everyday English are silly or stupid:
• It was a foolish thing to say. • They did not want to look foolish. • It was all a foolish dream. • I think the board of directors made a foolish choice that it will later regret.
unwise
formal done without thinking carefully enough about the possible disadvantages that may result:
• She knew the marriage was unwise. • an unwise choice of words • It would be very unwise to speculate.
brave
British English often humorous used when you think that what someone is planning or suggesting is certain to fail, but you do not want to say directly that they are behaving in a stupid way:
• The leader of the opposition described it as ‘a brave decision.’ • I think he’s being very brave.
very stupid
crazy
not at all sensible or reasonable – used when you are very surprised by someone’s behaviour or what they have said:
• Ian’s got some crazy plan to drive across Africa. • She looked at me as if I was crazy! • You’re crazy to think of hitch-hiking on your own.
ridiculous
extremely stupid:
• You look ridiculous in that hat. • Some people spend a ridiculous amount of money on cars. • It’s absolutely ridiculous to suggest that he would do something like that.
absurd/ludicrous
extremely stupid – used especially when an idea or situation seems strange or illogical:
• How can a return ticket cost less than a single? It’s totally absurd! • It was a ludicrous idea. • Some of the objections to the theory are simply absurd.
laughable
so stupid that you cannot believe someone is telling the truth or being serious:
• The accusations were almost laughable. • a laughable suggestion • It would be laughable if it wasn’t so serious.
Longman-Thesaurus