Adjacent Words

Silly definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SIL'LY, a. [Heb. This may be radically the same word, with a prefix. Class Sl. No. 26]
1. Weak in intellect; foolish; witless; destitute of ordinary strength of mind; simple; as a silly man; a silly child.
2. Proceeding from want of understanding or common judgment; characterized by weakness of folly; unwise; as silly thoughts; silly actions; a silly scheme; writings stupid or silly.
3. Weak; helpless. After long storms- With which my silly bark was toss'd

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: ludicrous, foolish; "gave me a cockamamie reason for not going"; "wore a goofy hat"; "a silly idea"; "some wacky plan for selling more books" [syn: cockamamie, cockamamy, goofy, sappy, silly, wacky, whacky, zany]
2: lacking seriousness; given to frivolity; "a dizzy blonde"; "light-headed teenagers"; "silly giggles" [syn: airheaded, dizzy, empty-headed, featherbrained, giddy, light- headed, lightheaded, silly]
3: inspiring scornful pity; "how silly an ardent and unsuccessful wooer can be especially if he is getting on in years"- Dashiell Hammett [syn: pathetic, ridiculous, silly]
4: dazed from or as if from repeated blows; "knocked silly by the impact"; "slaphappy with exhaustion" [syn: punch-drunk, silly, slaphappy] n
1: a word used for misbehaving children; "don't be a silly"

Merriam Webster's

adjective (sillier; -est) Etymology: Middle English sely, silly happy, innocent, pitiable, feeble, from Old English s?lig, from s?l happiness; akin to Old High German s?lig happy Date: 14th century 1. archaic helpless, weak 2. a. rustic, plain b. obsolete lowly in station ; humble 3. a. weak in intellect ; foolish b. exhibiting or indicative of a lack of common sense or sound judgment <a very silly mistake> c. trifling, frivolous 4. being stunned or dazed <scared silly> <knocked me silly> Synonyms: see simple • sillily adverb • silliness noun • silly noun or adverb

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. & n. --adj. (sillier, silliest) 1 lacking sense; foolish, imprudent, unwise. 2 weak-minded. 3 Cricket (of a fielder or position) very close to the batsman (silly mid-off). 4 archaic innocent, simple, helpless. --n. (pl. -ies) colloq. a foolish person. Phrases and idioms: silly billy colloq. a foolish person. the silly season high summer as the season when newspapers often publish trivial material for lack of important news. Derivatives: sillily adv. silliness n. Etymology: later form of ME sely (dial. seely) happy, repr. OE sælig (recorded in unsælig unhappy) f. Gmc

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Silly Sil"ly, a. [Compar. Sillier; superl. Silliest.] [OE. seely, sely, AS. s?lig, ges?lig, happy, good, fr. s?l, s?l, good, happy, s?l good fortune, happines; akin to OS. s[=a]lig, a, good, happy, D. zalig blessed, G. selig, OHG. s[=a]l[=i]g, Icel. s?l, Sw. s["a]ll, Dan. salig, Goth. s?ls good, kind, and perh. also to L. sollus whole, entire, Gr. ???, Skr. sarva. Cf. Seel, n.] 1. Happy; fortunate; blessed. [Obs.] --Chaucer. 2. Harmless; innocent; inoffensive. [Obs.] ``This silly, innocent Custance.'' --Chaucer. The silly virgin strove him to withstand. --Spenser. A silly, innocent hare murdered of a dog. --Robynson (More's Utopia). 3. Weak; helpless; frail. [Obs.] After long storms . . . With which my silly bark was tossed sore. --Spenser. The silly buckets on the deck. --Coleridge. 4. Rustic; plain; simple; humble. [Obs.] A fourth man, in a sillyhabit. --Shak. All that did their silly thoughts so busy keep. --Milton. 5. Weak in intellect; destitute of ordinary strength of mind; foolish; witless; simple; as, a silly woman. 6. Proceeding from want of understanding or common judgment; characterized by weakness or folly; unwise; absurd; stupid; as, silly conduct; a silly question. Syn: Simple; brainless; witless; shallow; foolish; unwise; indiscreet. See Simple.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(sillier, silliest) If you say that someone or something is silly, you mean that they are foolish, childish, or ridiculous. My best friend tells me that I am silly to be upset about this... That's a silly question. ADJ

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. 1. Senseless, witless, stupid, foolish, simple, weak, childish, inept, weak-minded, brainless, shallow. 2. Absurd, trifling, frivolous, extravagant, preposterous, nonsensical, unwise, indiscreet, imprudent.

Moby Thesaurus

Pickwickian, absurd, airy, apish, asinine, balmy, batty, bedazzled, befooled, beguiled, benumbed, besotted, blockhead, bonehead, booby, brainless, buffoonish, catchpenny, childish, clod, clot, cockeyed, crazy, credulous, daffy, daft, daze, dazed, dazzled, dippy, dizzy, dolt, dope, dopey, doting, drip, dumb, dummy, dunce, empty, empty-headed, fatuitous, fatuous, featherbrained, flaky, flighty, flimsy, fond, fool, foolhardy, foolheaded, foolish, fribble, fribbling, frivolous, frothy, fuddled, futile, gaga, giddy, goofy, goose, groggy, gulled, harebrained, idiot, idiotic, idle, ignoramus, ignorant, illogical, imbecile, imbecilic, in a daze, inane, inept, infatuated, insane, irrational, irresponsible, jackass, jerk, knocked silly, kooky, laughable, light, light-headed, loony, ludicrous, mad, maudlin, mazed, moronic, muzzy, nerd, nincompoop, ninny, nitwit, nitwitted, nonsensical, nugacious, nugatory, numskull, nutty, off, otiose, pointless, poppycockish, preposterous, puerile, punch-drunk, punchy, rattlebrained, ridiculous, risible, rubbishy, sappy, scatterbrained, screwy, senseless, sentimental, shallow, silly Billy, silly ass, simpleton, skimble-skamble, slaphappy, slender, slight, stunned, stupefied, stupid, superficial, thoughtless, trashy, trifling, trite, trivial, twaddling, twaddly, twit, unintelligent, unreasonable, unwise, unwitty, vacuous, vain, vapid, wacky, weak-minded, wet, windy, witless, woozy