Meaning of absent-minded professor | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A stereotypical fictional character whose focus on academic matters leads them to ignore or forget their surroundings.
2. A person who tends to be oblivious to reality.
   broadly

Equivalents

Examples

“An absent-minded professor, in going out of the gateway of his college, ran against a cow. In the confusion of the moment, he raised his hat, and exclaimed: " I beg⟳ your pardon, Madam." Soon after, he stumbled against a lady in the street. In sudden recollection of his former mishap, he called out: "Is that you again, you brute?"”

“Although the absent-minded professor has appeared frequently in American humor it is safe to assert that the dire extremity of the learned man in the tragedy of A Defective Memory could hardly have⟳ been reached outside of Germany.”

“Even when the absent-minded professor comes in and says he wants a book he saw⟳ noticed a few weeks ago, he has forgotten the author's name⟳ and can't recall⟳ the title, but he is sure it is a good book because the Nation or the Saturday Review⟳, he really can't remember⟳ which, said so, try⟳ to find⟳ out what he wants and get⟳ it for him.”

“Snapshot: Jimmy, a third-grader, is an absent-minded professor before his time. He forgets everything, from his lunch box in the morning, to his raincoat”

“Judith: I call⟳ Jim "The Ditz" when he is the absent-minded professor.”

“... a dreamy youth whose siblings teased him for being an absent-minded professor.”

“Professor Oak, the world's leading Pokémon expert, is at once a genius and a bumbling, absent-minded professor”

““My brother, the absent-minded professor,” she said, motioning to me with her thumb. “Don't you know⟳ why that date⟳ looks familiar, silly?”

CEFR level