not the sharpest knife in the drawer
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.84 in modern English
52
Scrabble Score
30
Letters
3
Syllables
14
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "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."
- "2003,Lucille Bluth, Arrested Development, S:1 E:3 “And I know he's not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but he's sensitive, Michael,” “He fits in a lot of ways, but he's not the sharpest knife in the drawer, is he?” “Maybe he just plays it stupid so people expect less of him.”"
- "[A] man who has lost every dollar he ever won–somewhere north of $US300 million ($370 million)–and done three years for rape is possibly not the sharpest knife in the drawer, nor the most likeable."
- "Intelligence = 1 / Title. The higher the level in the organization, the inversely less intelligent they are. Folk at the top have human skills and business savvy, but despite all the press, most are not the sharpest knives in the drawer—after all, that’s your job!"
Usage
Inflected Forms
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