dunce cap
noun
: a conical cap formerly used as a punishment for slow learners at school
called also dunce's cap
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web On sweltering summer days, my grandfather, a minor town official, was paraded through the streets in chains and a dunce cap, upon which was scrawled a litany of his failures. 
Belinda Huijuan Tang, Vogue, 5 May 2022 Come December, the predictor will either be wearing a dunce cap or a genius cap. Division 1: Santa Ana Mater Dei. Eric Sondheimer Columnist, Los Angeles Times, 2 Nov. 2021 Mike tells Moyers about a college student who wears the judgment of traditional writing instructors like a dunce cap. Kevin Dettmar, The New Yorker, 14 Oct. 2021 In the event a maskless person refuses to mask up and refuses to wear the dunce cap in the alley, the enforcer would follow that person around blasting the air horn until the person was seated. Rex Huppke, chicagotribune.com, 19 Aug. 2021 Banks’ stress test performance can also play into stock prices, as investors often reward big bank stocks for passing with flying colors and punish any that end up wearing a dunce cap. Jj Kinahan, Forbes, 22 June 2021 Perhaps that’s why my second-grade teacher taped my chatty mouth shut and put a dunce cap on my head. San Diego Union-Tribune, 26 Mar. 2021 Sitting in the corner of the room, wearing a dunce cap, is Android, the world's only major consumer operating system that can't be centrally updated by its creator. Ron Amadeo, Ars Technica, 22 Dec. 2020 Abraham Lincoln imprisoned editors during the Civil War, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt admonished a journalist to go to the corner and wear a dunce cap. Will Weissert, Star Tribune, 2 Dec. 2020 See More
Belinda Huijuan Tang, Vogue, 5 May 2022 Come December, the predictor will either be wearing a dunce cap or a genius cap. Division 1: Santa Ana Mater Dei. Eric Sondheimer Columnist, Los Angeles Times, 2 Nov. 2021 Mike tells Moyers about a college student who wears the judgment of traditional writing instructors like a dunce cap. Kevin Dettmar, The New Yorker, 14 Oct. 2021 In the event a maskless person refuses to mask up and refuses to wear the dunce cap in the alley, the enforcer would follow that person around blasting the air horn until the person was seated. Rex Huppke, chicagotribune.com, 19 Aug. 2021 Banks’ stress test performance can also play into stock prices, as investors often reward big bank stocks for passing with flying colors and punish any that end up wearing a dunce cap. Jj Kinahan, Forbes, 22 June 2021 Perhaps that’s why my second-grade teacher taped my chatty mouth shut and put a dunce cap on my head. San Diego Union-Tribune, 26 Mar. 2021 Sitting in the corner of the room, wearing a dunce cap, is Android, the world's only major consumer operating system that can't be centrally updated by its creator. Ron Amadeo, Ars Technica, 22 Dec. 2020 Abraham Lincoln imprisoned editors during the Civil War, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt admonished a journalist to go to the corner and wear a dunce cap. Will Weissert, Star Tribune, 2 Dec. 2020 See More Word History
First Known Use
circa 1791, in the meaning defined above