1
- (of a person) unable to speak, most typically because of congenital deafness（人）（尤指先天性）哑的：
he was born deaf, dumb, and blind.
他生来就是又聋又哑又盲的。
1.1
- (of animals) unable to speak as a natural state and thus regarded as helpless or deserving pity（动物）无说话能力的（天生如此, 因而是无助或值得同情的）。
1.2
- predic. temporarily unable or unwilling to speak（暂时）说不出话的; 不愿说话的; 沉默（寡言）的：
she stood dumb while he poured out a stream of abuse.
他骂不绝口时她只是默不作声地站着。
1.3
- attrib. resulting in or expressed by speechlessness导致语塞的; 无声的; 无言的; 不用语言表达的：
they stared in dumb amazement.
他们惊得目瞪口呆。
2
- informal, chiefly N. Amer. stupid〈非正式, 主北美〉笨的, 愚蠢的：
a dumb question.
一个愚蠢的问题。
2.1
- (of a computer terminal) able only to transmit data to or receive data from a computer; having no independent processing capability.（计算机终端）简易的, 哑的（指没有独立处理信息的能力）。常与INTELLIGENT相对。
with obj.
1
dumb something down
N. Amer. informal simplify or reduce the intellectual content of something so as to make it accessible to a larger number of people〈北美, 非正式〉使通俗化（指简化或降低某事物的知识性以便让更多人接受）：the producers categorically deny that they're dumbing down the show.
制作者明确否认他们正在使节目通俗化。
1.1
- no obj.
dumb down
become less intellectually challenging变得通俗化： the need to dumb down for mass audiences.
为适应广大观众而使节目变得通俗化的需要。
2
- poetic/literary make dumb or unheard; silence〈诗/文〉使变哑, 使不被听见; 使沉默：
a splendour that dazed the mind and dumbed the tongue.
让人心醉神迷、叹为观止的壮丽景象。
USAGE
Although dumb meaning not able to speak' is the older sense, it has been overwhelmed by the newer sense （meaning 'stupid'） to such an extent that the use of the first sense is now almost certain to cause offence. Alternatives such as speech-impaired should be used instead.
派生词
dumbly
adverbdumbness
noun词源
Old English, of Germanic origin; related to Old Norse dumbr and Gothic dumbs 'mute', also to Dutch dom'stupid' and German dumm 'stupid'.