play dumb

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

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Verb

play dumb (third-person singular simple present plays dumb, present participle playing dumb, simple past and past participle played dumb)

1. (idiomatic, informal) To pretend to be dumb, either:
   1. To feign muteness.
      • 1904, Rex Ellingwood Beach, “The Mule Driver and the Garrulous Mute”, in Pardners:

        I played dumb 'cause I knew if I talked at all, being simple and guileless, you all would twist me up and have the whole thing in a jiffy.

   2. To feign stupidity or ignorance of some knowledge, usually in order to avoid responsibility or gain some advantage.

      Synonym: play stupid

      • 1966 April 1, “Milestones”, in Time:

        Died. Virginia Hill, 49, redheaded, free-spending playmate of the underworld... who later acted out a cameo role before the late Senator Estes Kefauver's Senate crime committee, playing dumb about the business dealings of her many racketeer friends.

      • 2006 Sept. 17, David Mills, "Soft Eyes", The Wire, 00:35:20:

        Valchek: Kid, careers have been launched on a helluvalot less. Just... shut up and play dumb.
        Hauk: I can do that, no problem.

Translations

to pretend to be mute

• Finnish: esittää mykkää
• German: Stummheit vortäuschen, vorgeben stumm zu sein

to pretend to be slow-witted

• Catalan: fer l'orni (ca), fer el desentès (ca)
• Dutch: van den domme houden
• Finnish: esittää tyhmää
• French: faire l’innocent (fr)
• German: sich dumm stellen, (einen) auf dumm machen
• Italian: fare lo gnorri (it), fare l'innocente, fare il finto tonto
• Macedonian: се прави наудрен (se pravi naudren)
• Polish: udawać Greka (pl) impf, udać Greka pf
• Portuguese: fazer-se de tonto
• Romanian: face pe prostul
• Russian: приду́риваться (ru) impf (pridúrivatʹsja)
• Spanish: hacerse el sueco (es) m, hacerse el longuis (es), hacerse el/la de las gafas (Colombia)
• Swedish: spela dum