Adjacent Words

Folly definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

FOL'LY, n. [See Fool.]
1. Weakness of intellect; imbecility of mind. want of understanding.
A fool layeth open his folly. Proverbs 13.
2. A weak or absurd act not highly criminal; an act which is inconsistent with the dictates of reason, or with the ordinary rules of prudence. In this sense it may be used in the singular, but is generally in the plural. Hence we speak of the follies of youth.
3. An absurd act which is highly sinful; any conduct contrary to the laws of God or man; sin; scandalous crimes; that which violates moral precepts and dishonors the offender. Shechem wrought folly in Israel. Achan wrought folly in Israel. Genesis 34. Josh 7.
4. Criminal weakness; depravity of mind.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: the trait of acting stupidly or rashly [syn: folly, foolishness, unwiseness] [ant: wisdom, wiseness]
2: a stupid mistake [syn: stupidity, betise, folly, foolishness, imbecility]
3: the quality of being rash and foolish; "trying to drive through a blizzard is the height of folly"; "adjusting to an insane society is total foolishness" [syn: folly, foolishness, craziness, madness]
4: foolish or senseless behavior [syn: folly, foolery, tomfoolery, craziness, lunacy, indulgence]

Merriam Webster's

noun (plural follies) Etymology: Middle English folie, from Anglo-French, from fol fool Date: 13th century 1. lack of good sense or normal prudence and foresight 2. a. criminally or tragically foolish actions or conduct b. obsolete evil, wickedness; especially lewd behavior 3. a foolish act or idea 4. an excessively costly or unprofitable undertaking 5. an often extravagant picturesque building erected to suit a fanciful taste

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. (pl. -ies) 1 foolishness; lack of good sense. 2 a foolish act, behaviour, idea, etc. 3 an ornamental building, usu. a tower or mock Gothic ruin. 4 (in pl.) Theatr. a a revue with glamorous female performers, esp. scantily-clad. b the performers. Etymology: ME f. OF folie f. fol mad, FOOL(1)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Folly Fol"ly, n.; pl. Follies. [OE. folie, foli, F. folie, fr. fol, fou, foolish, mad. See Fool.] 1. The state of being foolish; want of good sense; levity, weakness, or derangement of mind. 2. A foolish act; an inconsiderate or thoughtless procedure; weak or light-minded conduct; foolery. What folly 'tis to hazard life for ill. --Shak. 3. Scandalous crime; sin; specifically, as applied to a woman, wantonness. [Achan] wrought folly in Israel. --Josh. vii. 15. When lovely woman stoops to folly. --Goldsmith. 4. The result of a foolish action or enterprise. It is called this man's or that man's ``folly,'' and name of the foolish builder is thus kept alive for long after years. --Trench.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(follies) 1. If you say that a particular action or way of behaving is folly or a folly, you mean that it is foolish. It's sheer folly to build nuclear power stations in a country that has dozens of earthquakes every year. N-VAR: oft N of n/-ing, it v-link N to-inf 2. A folly is a small tower or other unusual building that is built as a decoration in a large garden or park, especially in Britain in former times. N-COUNT

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

fol'-i.

See FOOL.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Foolishness, imbecility, fatuity, stupidity, shallowness, dulness, doltishness. 2. Absurdity, foolishness, extravagance, unwisdom, imprudence, nonsense, fatuity, indiscretion. 3. Act of folly, foolish act, indiscretion, blunder, faux pas. 4. Decline from chastity, slip, lapse, false step, misstep, faux pas, indiscretion.

Moby Thesaurus

absurdity, absurdness, act of folly, asininity, battiness, blunder, brainlessness, buffoonery, clownishness, crackpottedness, crankiness, craziness, daffiness, daftness, desipience, dottiness, dumb trick, dumbness, eccentricity, error, fatuity, fatuousness, faux pas, fluff, foolery, foolheadedness, foolishness, frivolity, frivolousness, gaffe, giddiness, goof, goofiness, idiocy, imbecility, imprudence, inanity, indiscretion, ineptitude, insanity, irrationality, kookiness, lunacy, madness, mindlessness, mistake, niaiserie, nonsense, nugacity, nuttiness, obtuseness, preposterousness, queerness, rashness, sappiness, screwiness, senselessness, silliness, sottise, stolidity, stolidness, stupid thing, stupidity, thoughtlessness, triflingness, triviality, unwise step, wackiness, weak-mindedness, weirdness, witlessness, zaniness, zanyism