Word.ws English Dictionary

not the sharpest knives in the drawer

not the sharpest knives in the drawer is the plural of not the sharpest knife in the drawer.

Meaning of not the sharpest knife in the drawer

Noun

not the sharpest knife in the drawer (plural not the sharpest knives in the drawer)

  1. (euphemistic, humorous) Lacking in intelligence; dimwitted.
    • You can block or tackle, or you can do some exotic things with a football cradled under your arm, but you're not the sharpest knife in the drawer when it comes to book learning.1994 September 5, Richard Hoffer, “Get Smart!”, in Sports Illustrated
    Synonyms:
    not the brightest bulb in the chandelier, not the sharpest crayon in the box, not the sharpest tool in the box/shed, dumb as a bag of hammers/…box of rocks

Questions about not the sharpest knives in the drawer

What is not the sharpest knives in the drawer the plural of?
Not the sharpest knives in the drawer is the plural of not the sharpest knife in the drawer.

Words near not the sharpest knives in the drawer in the dictionary

  1. not the brightest bulb in the chandelier
  2. not the case
  3. not the end of the world
  4. not the sharpest crayon in the box
  5. not the sharpest knife in the drawer
  6. not the sharpest knives in the drawer
  7. not the sharpest pencil in the box
  8. not the sharpest tool in the box
  9. not the sharpest tool in the shed
  10. not to be outdone
  11. not to brag

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: not the sharpest knives in the drawer (page history and authors); not the sharpest knife in the drawer (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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