daft
/dɑːft
/adjective British informal
1Silly; foolish: don’t ask such daft questions...
- My dear old mother went as daft as a brush in her final years.
- They were patient and polite, but they obviously wondered why I was asking such a daft question.
- I ask her if she smokes, a daft question given that this is a tobacconist, but you have to start somewhere.
Synonyms
absurd, preposterous, ridiculous, ludicrous, farcical, laughable, risible;
idiotic, stupid, foolish, foolhardy, unwise, imprudent, ill-conceived, silly, inane, puerile, infantile, fatuous, imbecilic, hare-brained, half-baked;
unreasonable, irrational, illogical, nonsensical, pointless, senseless, impracticable, unworkable, unrealistic;
peculiar, odd, strange, queer, weird, eccentric, bizarre, fantastic, incongruous, grotesque
informal crazy, barmy, potty, cock-eyed
simple-minded, simple, stupid, idiotic, moronic, imbecilic, dull-witted, dull, dim-witted, slow-witted, slow, witless, half-witted, feeble-minded, dunce-like, cretinous, empty-headed, vacuous, vapid;
deranged, unhinged, insane, mad
informal touched, thick, thick as two short planks, dim, dopey, dumb, dozy, birdbrained, pea-brained, pig-ignorant, bovine, slow on the uptake, soft in the head, brain-dead, boneheaded, lamebrained, chuckleheaded, dunderheaded, wooden-headed, fat-headed, muttonheaded, not all there, not quite right, crazy, mental, nuts, nutty, crackers, cracked, potty, barmy, batty, cuckoo, bonkers, dotty, dippy
British informal not the full shilling
North American informal dumb-ass
1.1 (daft about) Infatuated with: I was daft about him...
- I've been daft about cricket since I was young, and I was part of a successful squad until I was forced to pack it in at 26 when I tore my cartilage and ruptured my knee ligaments.
- His mother Karen said that she and her husband, Kevin, who are both doctors, were both daft about puzzles and had encouraged Jack and younger sister Mia in their hobby.
- Of course they are just daft about their rugby round here.
Synonyms
infatuated with, enamoured of, obsessed by, smitten with, besotted by, doting on, very fond of
informal crazy, wild, mad, nutty, nuts, potty, gone on
informal, dated sweet on
Derivatives
daftness
- In more recent years, Sarti's has become an excellent location for late-night daftness over a couple of bottles of Barolo.
- Dark, menacing and overblown to the point of daftness, it's just like the real Wuthering Heights.
- And delirious daftness without rhyme or reason is just plain boring and at the core of this film.
Origin
Old English gedæfte 'mild, meek', of Germanic origin; related to Gothic gabadan 'become or be fitting'.
In Old English a daft person was mild and gentle, qualities which tougher folk have often interpreted as signs of foolishness or mental incapacity. Deft (Middle English) was a related word, which first meant ‘mild, meek’ as well as ‘skilful’. Daft came to refer to lack of intelligence during the Middle Ages, and from the 16th century it could also imply madness. It could also mean playfulness—the festivities of Christmas used to be referred to as the daft days. See also crazy, silly