feebleminded
Definition
- Adjective:
- Having impaired or incomplete mental development: Describes a person whose intellectual development is significantly below average, often used in historical or clinical contexts to indicate limited cognitive ability or reasoning capacity.
Usage Examples
- Adjective:
- The court appointed a guardian for the feebleminded individual.
- Outdated laws once used the term "feebleminded" to describe a wide range of intellectual disabilities.
Advanced Usage
- Legal/Historical Context: The term is largely archaic and considered offensive in modern usage. It was formerly used in legal and medical classifications.
- Early 20th-century eugenics policies targeted those labeled as feebleminded.
Variants and Related Words
- Feeblemindedness (noun): The state or condition of being feebleminded.
- The diagnosis of feeblemindedness was often misapplied.
Synonyms
- Intellectually disabled: (Modern, preferred term) Having significant limitations in intellectual functioning and adaptive behavior.
- Developmentally delayed: Slower development in mental or physical abilities.
Important Note on Usage
- The term 'feebleminded' is now considered pejorative and clinically imprecise. It is strongly recommended to use person-first, respectful language such as "a person with an intellectual disability" in contemporary contexts.
Adjective
-
retarded in intellectual development
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