asinine

as·i·nine

adj \ˈa-sə-ˌnīn\

Definition of ASININE

1

: extremely or utterly foolish <an asinine excuse>

2

: of, relating to, or resembling an ass

— as·i·nine·ly adverb

— as·i·nin·i·ty \ˌa-sə-ˈni-nə-tē\ noun

Examples of ASININE

1. <it was asinine to run into the street like that>
2. … geniuses like Brando strike self and material together in a way that sets off some incomparable spark, radiating so much charisma that they get away with choices that would seem asinine from anyone else. —Jeremy McCarter, New York Times Book Review, 4 Jan. 2009
3. The boss of Wells Fargo has called the solvency tests “asinine”. The aim of such behaviour is presumably to convince regulators to focus the coming clampdown on the weakest banks. —The Economist, 13-19 June 2009
4. First the good news: There's one palatable piece of ear candy here, “Rocket O' Love.” While the words are asinine (“Shotgun, shing-a-ling/One, two, one two three, hey!!”), it's a hearty … rocker Billy Squier might like to call his own. —David Hiltbrand, People Weekly, 11 Mar. 1991

Origin of ASININE

Latin asininus, from asinus ass

First Known Use: 15th century

Related to ASININE

Synonyms: absurd, foolish, balmy, brainless, bubbleheaded, cockeyed, crackpot, crazy, cuckoo, daffy, daft, dippy, dotty, fatuous, featherheaded, fool, half-baked, harebrained, half-witted, inept, insane, jerky, kooky (also kookie), loony (also looney), lunatic, lunkheaded, mad, nonsensical, nutty, preposterous, sappy, screwball, senseless, silly, simpleminded, stupid, tomfool, unwise, wacky (also whacky), weak-minded, witless, zany

Antonyms: judicious, prudent, sagacious, sage, sane, sapient, sensible, sound, wise

Related Words: airheaded, birdbrained, boobish, brain-dead, chowderheaded, chuckleheaded, clueless, dense, dim, dim-witted, doltish, dopey (also dopy), dorky [slang], dull, dumb, dunderheaded, empty-headed, fatuous, feebleminded, gormless [chiefly British], idiotic (also idiotical), imbecile (or imbecilic), knuckleheaded, lamebrain (or lamebrained), mindless, moronic, oafish, obtuse, opaque, pinheaded, simple, slow, slow-witted, soft, softheaded, thoughtless, thick, thickheaded, unintelligent, vacuous, witless; fallacious, illogical, invalid, irrational, nonrational, surd, unreasonable, unreasoning, unsound, weak; farcical, laughable, ludicrous, ridiculous; notional; buffoonish, clownish; ill-advised, unconsidered, unreasoned

Near Antonyms: brainy, bright, clever, intelligent, smart; logical, rational, reasonable, valid; well-advised

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See Synonym Discussion at simple

Rhymes with ASININE

aerodyne, agate line, alkaline, androgyne, anodyne, anticline, Apennine, aquiline, argentine, auld lang syne, Aventine, Ballantyne, balloon vine, battle line, borderline, bottom-line, Byzantine, calamine, calcimine, Caroline, catarrhine, Catiline, celandine, centerline, cisalpine, claymore mine, clementine, colubrine, columbine, Columbine, concubine, conga line, contour line, Coppermine, coralline, countermine, countersign, credit line, crystalline, cytokine, dessert wine, disincline, dollar sign, down-the-line, draw the line, eglantine, endocrine, equal sign, Esquiline, exocrine, fescennine, finish line, firing line, Florentine, gas turbine, genuine, gregarine, infantine, interline, intertwine, iodine, Johannine, knotty pine, leonine, Levantine, Liechtenstein, limber pine, lubber line, minus sign, monkeyshine, morning line, muscadine, on deadline, on the line, opaline, palatine, Palatine, Palestine, party line, passerine, picket line, porcupine, psittacine, realign, redefine, redesign, riverine, saccharine, sapphirine, saturnine, second-line, serpentine, service line, sibylline, Siegfried line, sixty-nine, sounding line, subalpine, sparkling wine, static line, steam turbine, story line, table wine, Theatine, three-point line, timberline, toe the line, transalpine, Tridentine, turnverein, turpentine, underline, undermine, Ursuline, uterine, valentine, vespertine, viperine, vulturine, waterline, wind turbine, worry line