Word.ws English Dictionary

poindexter

/ˈpɔɪnˌdɛkstə/US/ˈpɔɪnˌdɛkstɚ/

poindexter is the alternative letter-case form of Poindexter.

Proper noun capitalized: Poindexter

Poindexter

  1. A surname from Jersey Norman.

Noun capitalized: Poindexter

Poindexter (plural Poindexters)

  1. (US, colloquial) A bookish or socially unskilled person.
    • Brain: A quantum-interface bomb? Are you insane in the membrane? / Philip Fry: You got it, Poindexter!2003 April 6, David X. Cohen, “The Why of Fry”, in Futurama, season 5, episode 8, Fox Broadcasting Company
    • On first listen, Americans of a certain vintage would call one a Poindexter, while older Brits would regard the other as a swot.2023 August 8, Janan Ganesh, “The oneness of Ron DeSantis and Rishi Sunak”, in Financial Times

Synonyms of poindexter

Forms of poindexter

pluralpoindexters
pluralPoindexters
alternative formpoindexter

Origin of poindexter

From Jersey Norman Poingdestre (literally “right fist”). The sense “bookish or socially unskilled person” is from the character of the same name in the 1959 animated television series Felix the Cat, which is a revival of the original Felix the Cat animated films from 1919 to 1936. Its first use appears c. 1981 in the publication University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill Slang.

Words formed from poindexter

Questions about poindexter

What does poindexter mean?
Poindexter means a surname from Jersey Norman.
What is poindexter the alternative letter-case form of?
Poindexter is the alternative letter-case form of Poindexter.
What part of speech is poindexter?
Poindexter can be a proper noun or a noun.
How do you pronounce poindexter?
Poindexter is pronounced /ˈpɔɪnˌdɛkstɚ/ (US).

Words near poindexter in the dictionary

  1. poind
  2. poindable
  3. poinded
  4. poinder
  5. poinders
  6. poindexter
  7. poindexterish
  8. poindexters
  9. poinding
  10. poindings
  11. Poindo

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: poindexter (page history and authors); Poindexter (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-Poindexter.wav.

Cite this entry: “poindexter.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/poindexter. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.