Word.ws English Dictionary

full deckism

full deckism noun: a word or phrase used to euphemistically refer to the crazy or deranged state of another person.

Noun

full deckism (plural full deckisms)

  1. A word or phrase used to euphemistically refer to the crazy or deranged state of another person.
    • The next time you need to make this point try using a "full deckism." Full deckisms are euphemisms for saying that people are stupid or illogical — that they're "not playing with a full deck."1996, Malcolm L. Kushner, Successful Presentations for Dummies, page 332
    • A currently popular pattern of insult humor is the "Full Deckism," named from the cliche, "He's not playing with a full deck."2000, Alleen Pace Nilsen, Don Lee Fred Nilsen, Encyclopedia of 20th-century American Humor, page 244

Forms of full deckism

pluralfull deckisms
alternative formfull-deckism

Origin of full deckism

After such phrases as not playing with a full deck and a few cards short of a deck, + -ism.

Questions about full deckism

What does full deckism mean?
Full deckism means a word or phrase used to euphemistically refer to the crazy or deranged state of another person.
What part of speech is full deckism?
Full deckism is a noun.
What is the plural of full deckism?
The plural of full deckism is full deckisms.

Words near full deckism in the dictionary

  1. full cousin
  2. full cousins
  3. full cream milk
  4. full debut
  5. full debuts
  6. full deckism
  7. full deckisms
  8. full disclosure
  9. full disclosures
  10. full dive
  11. full dress

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: full deckism (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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