Meanings
idiot's delight1
Idiot's Delight2
- uncountableAny of various games of solitaire or patience.
On the other hand, I know one of the biggest operators in New York who finds his recreation after a hard day’s fight with the market in solitaire—‘Idiot’s Delight’ is his especial game.
1910, The Cosmopolitan, volume 50, page 7611 more example
They were fabulously well-to-do, and descended from Americans who had all but wrecked the planet with a form of Idiot’s Delight—obsessively turning money into power, and then power back into money again, and then money back into power again.
1976, Kurt Vonnegut, chapter 2, in Slapstick, Delacorte Press, page 28
Origin
So called because of the low chance of winning the game.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
idiot's delight. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/idiot's%20delight
“idiot's delight.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/idiot's%20delight. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “idiot's delight,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/idiot's%20delight.
Source: idiot's delight on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.