dumbing

Verb

dumb (third-person singular simple present dumbs, present participle dumbing, simple past and past participle dumbed)

1. (dated, transitive) To silence.
   • […] what I would have spoke
     Was beastly dumbed by him.c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard...
2. (transitive) To make stupid.
   • I think she's dumbing us down, so we won't be smarter than her.2003, Angela Calabrese Barton, Teaching Science for Social Justice, page 124
3. (transitive) To represent as stupid.
   • Bad-mouthing Neanderthals […] is symptomatic of a need to exclude and even demonize. […] I suggest that the unproven dumbing of the Neanderthals is an example of the same cultural preconception.2004, Stephen Oppenheimer, The Real Eve: Modern Man's Journey Out of Africa, page 107
4. (transitive) To reduce the intellectual demands of.
   • The ensuing storm caused the department to lower the bar—amid protests that this was dumbing the test down—so that only 80 percent of urban kids would fail.2002, Deborah Meier, In Schools We Trust: Creating Communities of Learning in an Era of Testing, page 126

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