folly

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

Lack of good sense

Nouns

1. folly, silliness, foolishness, inanity, idiocy; frivolity, ineptitude; giddiness; inattention; irrationality, eccentricity (see insanity); extravagance, nonsense, absurdity; rashness; stultification, infatuation. Slang, meshugga; flapdoodle. See shallowness.

2. (foolish person) fool, dunce, idiot, tomfool, wiseacre, simpleton, imbecile, donkey, ass, [silly] goose, ninny, nincompoop, dolt, numskull, bone-head, boob[y]; trifler, babbler; oaf, lout, loon, ass, dullard, dunderhead, blockhead, loggerhead; half-wit, nitwit, lackwit; harebrain; clod, clodhopper. Informal, chump, loony, dingbat, ding-a-ling, chucklehead, fathead, schmuck. Slang, jerk, sap, duffer, dumbbell, square, rube, airbrain, airhead, dumbo, muttonhead, clodhead, dimwit, goof, dumb bunny, gonzo, space cadet, schlemazel, donk, flat tire, fruitcake, zip, woodcock, asshole.

3. (foolish act) act of folly, indiscretion, blunder; antic (see amusement). Informal, dumb thing to do.

4. (people foolish for special reasons) innocent, milksop, sop (See credulity); dotard, driveler; old fogy, old woman; crone, grandmother; greenhorn, dupe, ignoramus (see ignorance); lubber, bungler, blunderer; madman (see insanity); jester (see wit).

Verbs

1. be a fool, be foolish, fool around, drivel, have rocks in one's head; play the fool, talk nonsense or through one's hat, take leave of one's senses, need one's head examined. Slang, horse around.

2. make a fool or monkey of, stultify, infatuate (see ridicule).

Adjectives

1. foolish, silly, senseless, inane, irrational, giddy, fatuous, nonsensical, inept. Slang, daft, screwy, goofy, daffy, flaky, out to lunch, dizzy, loony, meshugga, jive-ass.

2. unwise, injudicious, imprudent, unreasonable, without [rhyme or] reason, ridiculous, silly, stupid, asinine, ill-advised, ill-judged, extravagant, idle, useless (see uselessness); inexpedient, frivolous, trivial (see unimportance).

Phrases — ask a silly question and you get a silly answer; a fool and his money are soon parted; fools build houses and wise men live in them; a fool's bolt is soon shot.

Quotations — A knowledgeable fool is a greater fool than an ignorant fool (Molière), Fools rush in where angels fear to tread (Alexander Pope), A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees (William Blake), Better a witty fool than a foolish wit (Shakespeare), Lord, what fools these mortals be! (Shakespeare).

Antonyms, see knowledge, reasoning.

II

(Roget's IV) n.

Syn. absurdity, foolishness, imprudence, silliness; see indiscretion 1 , stupidity 2 , 3 .

III

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus) n.

foolishness, silliness, nonsense, craziness, lunacy, absurdity, wackiness, senselessness, idiocy, fatuity. A vigorous plant, which sheds abundant seed.''—Isaac D'Is-raeli.

ANT.: good sense, intelligence, wisdom, *wise move

IV

(Roget's Thesaurus II) noun Foolish behavior: absurdity, foolery, foolishness, idiocy, imbecility, insanity, lunacy, madness, nonsense, preposterousness, senselessness, silliness, tomfoolery, zaniness. Informal: craziness. See ABILITY.