CS Knowledge Base

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈmɔːɹɒn/

  Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

  Rhymes: -ɔːɹɒn

• (without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): /mo(ː)ɹɒn/, /-ɑn/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈmoɹɑn/, [ˈmo̞ɹɑn]

Coined by American psychologist Henry H. Goddard in 1910, from Ancient Greek μωρόν (mōrón), the neuter form of μωρός (mōrós, “foolish, dull”).

moron (plural morons)

2. (informal, derogatory) A stupid person; an idiot; a fool.

   Synonyms: imbecile, idiot, retard (offensive), maroon; see also Thesaurus:fool, Thesaurus:idiot

   • 1926 October 22, Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises:

     “I misjudged you,” Harvey said. You’re not a moron. You’re only a case of arrested development.

4. (psychology, dated, originally) A person of mild mental subnormality in the former classification of mental retardation, having an intelligence quotient of 50–70.

   Synonyms: imbecile, idiot, retard (offensive)

• The current medical term for having an IQ between 50 and 70 is “mild intellectual disability”.

• → French: moron
• → Turkish: moron

• Moron (psychology) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Coined by American legal philosopher Ronald Dworkin in late 20th c.; by surface analysis, mor(al) +‎ -on. The obvious idea that the homonymy with the usual sense of moron was likely intentional has been supported by some of Dworkin's fellow philosophers.

moron (plural morons)

2. (philosophy) A hypothetical particle whose existence and configuration can make a moral judgment true. (Can we verify⁽⁾ this sense?)
   • 2016, Sharon Street, “Chapter 12: Objectivity and Truth: You'd Better Rethink It”, in Russ Shafer-Landau, editor, Oxford Studies in Metaethics‎^[1], volume 11, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, pages 308-309:

     Encouraged by this solution to the puzzle in the case of judgments about our manifest surroundings, one might hope that a similar solution can be offered to the parallel puzzle concerning normative judgments. One example of this solution might be to affirm the existence of what Dworkin calls morons (p. 104)—special moral particles with causal powers—and then to explain why an ability to detect morons tended to promote the reproductive success of ancestors who possessed this ability. The thought is that perhaps an inability to detect these particles led to decreased reproductive success, just as an inability to detect boulders, trees, and lakes did. As his moron terminology suggests, however, Dworkin utterly rejects any solution along these lines. He thinks the idea of morons is absurd (pp. 104-5), and indeed takes the view that normative properties never play a role in our best causal explanations. Moral rightness and wrongness, goodness, normative reasons, value, and so on, in Dworkin's view, are not things with causal powers at all, and it is a misguided test for the existence of these things to ask whether or not they play a role in our best causal explanations (p. 119). As Thomas Nagel has put the point, "Mackie [has argued that] reasons play no role in causal explanations. But it begs the question to assume that this sort of explanatory necessity is the test of reality for values. The claim that certain reasons exist is a normative claim, not a claim about the best causal explanation of anything."²⁵ As we saw earlier, this rejection of the idea that reasons and values are things with causal powers is a distinguishing feature of non-naturalist versions of normative realism in general. I think there is more to be said about this second possible solution to the puzzle than Dworkin's talk of "morons" suggests. Yet in the end, I agree with Dworkin, Nagel, and other non-naturalist realists on this point. Rightness, wrongness, goodness, normative reasons, value, and so on are very different things than trees and boulders, and no plausible causal account will solve the practical/theoretical puzzle. I will not argue for this point here, however; I say more about it elsewhere.²⁶ I mention this second possible solution only to set it aside; in what follows I will assume with Dworkin and other non-naturalist realists that this second solution to the puzzle fails, allowing us to focus on Dworkin's proposed solution.

• Monro, normo-

Inherited from Proto-Mongolic *mören (“river, sea”), *müren. Cognate to Mongolian мөрөн (mörön), Buryat мүрэн (müren), Kalmyk мөрн (mörn).

• IPA^(key): /moˈron/

moron

1. river

• Ma Guozhong (马国忠); Chen Yuanlong (陈元龙) (2012), “moron”, in 东乡语汉语词典 [Dongxiang-Chinese Dictionary] (in Chinese), 2nd edition, Lanzhou: 甘肃民族出版社, →ISBN, page 295

• IPA^(key): /ˈmoron/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -oron
• Syllabification: mo‧ron

moron

1. accusative singular of moro

• IPA^(key): /ˈmoron/, [ˈmo̞ro̞n]
• Rhymes: -oron
• Syllabification^(key): mo‧ron
• Hyphenation^(key): mo‧ron

moron (colloquial)

1. alternative form of moro

• “moron”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎^[2] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 3 July 2023

moron

1. genitive singular of moro

• normo

English moron, from Ancient Greek μωρός (mōrós, “foolish, dull”).

• IPA^(key): /mɔ.ʁɔ̃/

• Audio (Canada (Shawinigan)):

  (file)

moron m (plural morons, feminine moronne)

1. (Quebec) moron, idiot

moron (feminine moronne, masculine plural morons, feminine plural moronnes)

1. (Quebec, informal) stupid

   Que t'es moron, toi! ― Gosh, you're stupid!

moron

1. (Lancashire) alternative form of morwen

moron m (plural moroni)

1. alternative form of morun

From English moron, from Ancient Greek μωρός (mōrós, “slow, dull, foolish, stupid”).

• IPA^(key): [moɾˈon]
• Hyphenation: mo‧ron

moron

1. fool, stupid, idiot, moronic

moron (definite accusative moronu, plural moronlar)

1. moron

   Bir morona aşık oldum. ― I fell in love with a moron.

• (North Wales) IPA^(key): /ˈmɔrɔn/
• (South Wales) IPA^(key): /ˈmoːrɔn/, /ˈmɔrɔn/
• Rhymes: -ɔrɔn

From Old English moran, plural of more (“edible root, carrot, parsnip”), from Proto-West Germanic *morhā, from Proto-Germanic *murhǭ.

moron (plural, singular moronen f)

1. carrots

moron

1. nasal mutation of boron

• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke, et al., editors (1950–present), “moron”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies