non-intelligencen.
/ˌnɒnɪnˈtɛlᵻdʒ(ə)ns/, U.S. /ˌnɑnᵻnˈtɛlədʒ(ə)ns/ 1. Absence or lack of intelligence.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > stupidity, dullness of intellect > [noun]
hardnessOE
stuntnessc1000
sotshipc1050
witlessnessa1100
sotheada1200
dullness1398
bluntness1483
slowness1495
grossnessa1530
stupidity?1541
assishness?1548
dastardness1552
lourderie1555
dastardliness1556
blockishness1561
doltishness1569
sottage1569
sheepishness1574
doltry1581
sottishness1589
doltage1593
dorbellism1593
grout-headry1600
opacity1611
duncery1615
dunstery1615
stupidness1619
hebetude1621
insulsity1623
unintelligence1634
obtuseness1648
jobbernowlism1652
dullery1653
non-intelligence1653
blockheadishness1656
crassness1664
blockheadedness1716
stolidness1727
blockheadism1753
numbskullity1779
nincompoophood1791
duncishness1805
numbskullism1806
foziness1821
noodledum1821
obtusity1823
soft-headedness1823
noodledom1827
duncehood1829
dunderheadedness1830
sumphishness1830
asininity1831
dunderheadism1836
stockishness1837
dullardness1840
fat-headedness1840
stupor1845
duncedom1847
misintelligence1848
nincompoopery1850
wooden-headedness1850
dumminess1852
jolterheadedness1852
ninnyship1852
donkeyism1855
dumbness1860
beef-wittedness1863
crassitude1865
donkeyhood1869
slow-wittedness1869
chuckle-headedness1880
leatherheadedness1880
pinheadedness1884
numbskulledness1885
donkeydom1889
thickheadedness1889
density1894
moronism1922
nitwittedness1931
nitwittery1931
noodleness1931
dopiness1942
squirrel-headedness1955
nincompoopism1957
dim-wittedness1960
clottishness1961
1653 N. Hookes Amanda 86 Bring to the wrack your judgement, reason, sense, To screw a truth from non-Intelligence.
1855 J. R. Graves Great Iron Wheel xxxiv. 419 Does not the infant of a day differ as much from an adult of twenty-two or fifty, as non-intelligence from intelligence—as irrationality from rationality?
1873 W. G. Williams Ingham Lect. 76 We have the difficulty of supposing that all the intelligence in the universe..came out of non-intelligence.
1905 J. M. Robertson Chamberlain x. 52/2 It was the apotheosis of notional non-intelligence.
1987 P. Singha Gita as It Was 34 Prakriti, non-consciousness, non-intelligence.
2. Failure to understand. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > [noun]
unsensibleness?1555
headlesshood1579
senselessness1580
vacuity1593
incomprehension1605
insensibleness1610
unintelligiblenessa1631
insensateness1646
mindlessness1646
inapprehensiveness1652
unapprehensiveness1669
non-intelligencea1674
unperceivingnessa1688
inapprehension1745
inconception1761
brainlessness1832
vacancy1841
uncomprehension1862
a1674 T. Traherne Dumnesse in Poems (1966) 23 My Non-Intelligence of Human Words Ten thousand Pleasures unto me affords.
1876 G. Meredith Beauchamp's Career II. xi. 212 Dr. Shrapnel had raised his head..and his frown of non-intelligence might be interpreted as the coming on of the fury Radicals are prone to.
1908 H. James Let. 17 Aug. in M. Anesko Lett., Fictions & Lives (1997) 426 I rejoice moreover, with much envy, and also a certain yearning and non-intelligence, at your being moved today to Roman utterance.
Compounds
attributive. That does not consist of or deal with the obtaining of military intelligence; not of or relating to the secret service.
ΚΠ
1959 P. Deriabin & F. Gibney Secret World 244 Behind this official screen Pribytkov pursued pleasure consistently, to the point where some of his female agents complained to Deriabin about his non-intelligence activities.
1977 MERIP Rep. No. 63. 21 The report disclosed that ‘SSM procedures to make certain that only non-intelligence personnel were assigned to SFM were loosely drawn’.
1990 Internat. Affairs 66 369 The volume of Handel's own articles deals in more theoretical terms with the politics of intelligence and with surprise and deception, plus some non-intelligence aspects of Clausewitz.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1653