foolishness

noun

fool·​ish·​ness ˈfü-lish-nəs 

1

: foolish behavior

2

: a foolish act or idea

Synonyms

• absurdity
• asininity
• balminess
• brainlessness
• craziness
• daftness
• dippiness
• dottiness
• fatuity
• fatuousness
• folly
• imbecility
• inanity
• insanity
• lunacy
• madness
• nonsensicalness
• nuttiness
• preposterousness
• senselessness
• silliness
• simplicity
• unwisdom
• wackiness
• witlessness
• zaniness

Examples of foolishness in a Sentence

the foolishness of going off to search for the fountain of youth

couldn't listen to another second of their foolishness, so I told them to be quiet

Recent Examples on the Web

Depressed and cowed by his wife, Michael comes across as naïve to the point of foolishness, and there are moments when his haplessness is played for laughs. —Kristen Baldwin, EW.com, 19 Mar. 2025

Any American escalation in service of the Zionists and the Zionist lobby will be paid for by the American citizen, who pays taxes and incurs increased shipping costs as a result of the Trump administration's foolishness. —David Faris, Newsweek, 18 Mar. 2025

Feig amps up the irreverence, dialing up the foolishness to truly unserious levels. —Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter, 7 Mar. 2025

More recently, however, both the manosphere and the alt-right have adopted the term cuck as a more general synonym for weakness, desperation and foolishness. —Brooke Scelza, Scientific American, 19 Sep. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1