Meanings
- derogatorynot comparableHolding beliefs or having attitudes that are primitive or uncivilised.
The furore over Penguin's wise and brave decision to “reflect the diversity of British society” in its publishing and hiring output seems to have awoken the usual knuckle-dragging, semi-blind suspects with their endlessly repeated terrors and fears.
2018 June 15, Hanif Kureishi, “Diversity in publishing is under attack. I hear the sound of knuckles dragging”, in The Guardian
Origin
From the habit of some primates of walking with the forelimbs dragging along the ground.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
knuckle-dragging. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/knuckle-dragging
“knuckle-dragging.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/knuckle-dragging. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “knuckle-dragging,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/knuckle-dragging.
Source: knuckle-dragging on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.