silly

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

adj. witless, foolish, stupid, childish; fatuous, inane; senseless, absurd, ridiculous; stunned. See absurdity, credulity, folly.

II

(Roget's IV) modif.

Syn. senseless, ridiculous, nonsensical, foolish, fatuous, unreasonable, irrational, stupid, asinine, absurd, simpleminded, harebrained, brainless, featherbrained, empty-headed, vacuous, muddleheaded, illogical, ludicrous, preposterous, inane, giddy, frivolous, trivial, shallow, puerile, birdbrained*, air-headed*, dippy*, ditzy*, sappy*, goofy*.

Syn.- silly implies ridiculous or irrational behavior that demonstrates a lack of common sense, good judgment, or sobriety [ it was silly of you to dress so lightly ] ; stupid implies a slow-wittedness or lack of normal intelligence [ he is stupid to believe that ] ; fatuous suggests stupidity, inanity, or obtuseness coupled with a smug complacency [ a fatuous smile ] ; asinine implies the extreme stupidity conventionally attributed to an ass [ an asinine argument ] See also Synonym Study at absurd .

III

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus) a.

foolish, childish, infantile, juvenile, asinine, goofy, stupid, nonsensical, idiotic, absurd, laughable, wacky, ridiculous, zany, funny, humorous.

ANT.: serious, grave, mature

IV

(Roget's Thesaurus II) adjective 1. Displaying a complete lack of forethought and good sense: brainless, fatuous, foolish, insensate, mindless, senseless, unintelligent, weak-minded, witless. See ABILITY, PLANNED. 2. So senseless as to be laughable: absurd, foolish, harebrained, idiotic, imbecilic, insane, lunatic, mad, moronic, nonsensical, preposterous, softheaded, tomfool, unearthly, zany. Informal: cockeyed, crazy, loony, loopy. Slang: balmy2, dippy, dopey, jerky, sappy, wacky. See ABILITY, KNOWLEDGE. 3. Given to lighthearted silliness: empty-headed, featherbrained, flighty, frivolous, frothy, giddy, harebrained, lighthearted, scatterbrained. Informal: gaga. Slang: birdbrained, dizzy. See ABILITY.