adjective
mōros
Strong’sG3474
stupid, foolish
stem mōr-12 times in the New Testamentin 4 of 27 books9 of 26 forms occur
What it means
A plain-English reading of the word, with the lexicons it draws on — Abbott-Smith, Strong's, and Liddell-Scott-Jones — right below it, in full.
AI Summary
Foolish or stupid, describing a person who lacks sense, understanding, or judgment 124. It is used of people called fools for this lack of understanding, such as the “foolish virgins” or one who is a fool by human reckoning 13, and Strong's brings out a nuance of being heedless or morally blockheaded, as if the mind were shut up 2. The word also describes things that are foolish, such as pointless disputes or an unfounded human tradition 1, and things people despise as foolish but that in fact belong to God — “the foolishness of God” and “the foolish things of the world” 1. In the Greek Old Testament it can likewise describe a whole people as senseless and without understanding in a religious sense 3.
Sources: 1 Abbott-Smith 2 Strong's 3 LSJ 4 Dodson. Condensed by anthropic/claude-sonnet-5 on 2026-09-23 — it may still misstate what these say; check them yourself if it matters to you.
The lexicons it was drawn from, in full:
Abbott-Smith — the 1922 lexicon entry, in full
μωρός, -ά, -όν,
[in LXX for נָבָל, etc.; freq. in Si.;]
G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 1922 — public domain. References open in the reader.
Strong’s G3474 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from
Saidmo-ros'
dull or stupid (as if shut up), i.e. heedless, (morally) blockhead, (apparently) absurd
Fromprobably from the base of G3466;
King Jamesfool(-ish, X -ishness).
James Strong, Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, 1890 — public domain. The numbers in it link to the entries here.
Liddell-Scott-Jones — the classical dictionary this word appears in
Attic dialect μῶρος Hdn.Gr. 1.192: μῶρος as feminine, Refs 5th c.BC+, but accusative μῶραν Refs 3rd c.BC+:—dull, sluggish, of the nerves, Refs 5th c.BC+; χειμῶνος ἀρχομένου μ. γίνονται οἱ ἐργάται [τῶν σφηκῶν] Refs 4th c.BC+
2 of persons, dull, stupid, μωροῦ φωτὸς ἅδε βουλά NT+5th c.BC+: comparative in proverbial, μωρότερος Μορύχου Refs 5th c.BC+: superlative, Refs 5th c.BC+
2.b in a religious sense, λαὸς μ. καὶ ἀκάρδιος LXX
3 of things, δέδοικα μῶρον πυραύστου μόρον Refs 5th c.BC+; τὸ μ. folly, NT+5th c.BC+; μῶρα φρονεῖν, φωνεῖν, δρᾶν, LXX+5th c.BC+
3.b μ. ἀνάγκη blind necessity, Refs 4th c.BC+
4 of taste, insipid, flat, Comedy texts Adesp.Refs 1st c.AD+
II adverb -ρως Refs 5th c.BC+. (Cf. Sanskrit mūrás 'idiot'.)
H. G. Liddell, R. Scott, H. S. Jones, A Greek-English Lexicon (9th ed., 1925–1940) — digitised by the Perseus Digital Library and corrected and expanded by Tyndale House, Cambridge, via STEPBible-Data's TFLSJ table, CC BY 4.0. Covers all of Greek literature, not just the Bible.
Translated as
Every occurrence, sorted by the English it was actually given — the evidence for what the word means, not a gloss of it.
Berean Standard Bible (BSB), dedicated to the public domain — berean.bible.
Biblang forms
Every form this word takes in Biblang, with the Greek it corresponds to and how often the New Testament uses it.
| Job in the sentence case | masculine singular | feminine singular | neuter singular | masculine plural | feminine plural | neuter plural |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| subject nominative | mōros1×μωρὸς | mōras | mōrem1×μωρὸν | mōrois1×μωροὶ | mōrais3×μωραὶ | mōreim1×μωρὰ |
| object accusative | mōron | mōran | mōroin | mōrain2×μωρὰς | ||
| direct address vocative | mōror1×Μωρέ | mōrar | mōroir1×μωροὶ | mōrair | ||
| of, belonging to genitive | mōrou | mōrau | mōreu | mōroiu | mōraiu | mōreiu |
| to, for dative | mōro1×μωρῷ | mōra | mōre | mōroi | mōrai | mōrei |
Tinted cells are forms the New Testament never uses, so there is no Greek to show against them — but they are still correct Biblang, built from the slots below like any other.
Why these forms, and no others — the slots that make them
mōr is this word in every one of its forms. The slots after it make all the rest.
same in every form varies — every value shown
Where it appears
Every verse the word appears in, filed under the form it takes there.
12 occurrences, every one of them listed
mōros“fool”subjectnominative singular1×
1 Corinthians 3:18… en vi en to aiōno houto, mōros genetar, hina geneteia sofos,… this age, he should become a fool, so that he may become wise.
mōror“fool”direct addressvocative singular1×
Matthew 5:22… te sunedrie; hos de an legateia; Mōror, enochos eti eis tan geennan teu …… Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be subject to the fire …
mōro“foolish”to, fordative singular1×
Matthew 7:26… kai mē poiarōntos autoin homoiiti andro mōro, hotinos oikodomata autou tan oikian epi …… act on them is like a foolish man who built his house on …
mōrem“foolishness”subject or objectdirect singular1×
1 Corinthians 1:25hoti tem mōrem tou theou sofoterem toiu anthrōpoiu atō, …For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s …
mōrois“fools”subjectnominative plural1×
1 Corinthians 4:10nis mōrois dia Christon, vis de fronimois en …We are fools for Christ, but you are wise …
mōroir“fools”direct addressvocative plural1×
Matthew 23:17mōroir kai tufloir, tinos gar megoteros atō, …You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or …
mōrais“foolish”subjectnominative plural3×
Matthew 25:2pente de ek autaiu ale mōrais kai pente fronimais.Five of them were foolish, and five were wise.
Matthew 25:3tais gar mōrais labarantais tain lampadain autaiu ouk labala …The foolish ones took their lamps but did …
Matthew 25:8tais de mōrais tai fronimai legala; Dōavar ni ek …The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give …
mōrain“foolish”objectaccusative plural2×
2 Timothy 2:23tain de mōrain kai apaideutain zētēsiain paraitosōr, horarēntos hoti …But reject foolish and ignorant speculation, for you know …
Titus 3:9mōrain de zētēsiain kai genealogiain kai eridain …But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, arguments, and quarrels about …
mōreim“foolish”subject or objectdirect plural1×
1 Corinthians 1:27alla teim mōreim tou kosmou eklegeta tos theos, hina …But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame …