1
as in insanity
a foolish act or idea
the American purchase of Alaska was originally considered a grand folly
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in madness
lack of good sense or judgment
in all my folly, I didn't think about how my actions would hurt my father
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in nonsense
language, behavior, or ideas that are absurd and contrary to good sense
enough of this folly about moving to the Australian outback
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of folly
Viewers cannot easily brush them off as follies and are forced to confront them as qualified competitors to traditional photos.
—
Ray Mark Rinaldi, The Denver Post, 17 Mar. 2025
The worst public-health folly in American history, a total overreaction, one that the society will need generations to recover from.
—Howie Carr, Boston Herald, 14 Mar. 2025
The folly of swapping him out for Ibrahimovic, football’s most brash individualist outside of Cristiano Ronaldo, was exposed in less than a year.
—Liam Twomey, The Athletic, 6 Feb. 2025
See above to see the folly of the inflation definition.
—John Tamny, Forbes, 2 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for folly
Ray Mark Rinaldi, The Denver Post, 17 Mar. 2025
The worst public-health folly in American history, a total overreaction, one that the society will need generations to recover from.
—Howie Carr, Boston Herald, 14 Mar. 2025
The folly of swapping him out for Ibrahimovic, football’s most brash individualist outside of Cristiano Ronaldo, was exposed in less than a year.
—Liam Twomey, The Athletic, 6 Feb. 2025
See above to see the folly of the inflation definition.
—John Tamny, Forbes, 2 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for folly
Recent Examples of Synonyms for folly
Noun
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The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome.—
Paul Du Quenoy,
MSNBC Newsweek,
27 Mar. 2025
-
Our Rox are a walking bundle of baseball insanity, Looney Tunes from the top down.—
Sean Keeler,
The Denver Post,
23 Mar. 2025
Noun
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Broadway’s spring madness is underway with shows opening on an almost nightly basis until the Tony deadline and the official end of the 2024-2025 season in a couple of weeks.—
Chris Jones,
New York Daily News,
6 Apr. 2025
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The film satirizes the star-making machinery of Hollywood, with Harlow playing a popular actress attempting to find romance amid the madness of the industry that surrounds her.—
Mark Olsen,
Los Angeles Times,
4 Apr. 2025
Noun
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But when real users interact with it, the system collapses, generating nonsense or failing to handle inputs that deviate from the demo script.—
Albert Lie,
Forbes.com,
4 Apr. 2025
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Slapping down Putin should mean something, but that pronouncement, like everything Trump utters, is undercut by him spouting nonsense, including about a third term, which his press secretary laughed off yesterday.—
New York Daily News Editorial Board,
New York Daily News,
1 Apr. 2025
Noun
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Sure, The Critic had its fair sure of absurdity (one character was from Easter Island and bore a striking resemblance to a moai statue), but the New York in which it was set felt real in a way that Springfield or Quahog never did.—
Alex Weprin,
HollywoodReporter,
29 Mar. 2025
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Featuring intertwining narratives of doctors and patients, the film also includes a group of doctors-turned-comedians who use humor to highlight the absurdities of the system.—
Lise Pedersen,
Variety,
25 Mar. 2025
Noun
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The ambiguity, the exaltation and sarcastic self-parody, the gloom alternating with a yearning for simplicity and even for redemption—all of that reflected the split consciousness of Jews who could never belong and turned revenge upon themselves.—
David Denby,
The Atlantic,
1 Apr. 2025
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Or, to be more precise, Marclay’s execution reveals that the concept contains unforeseeable complexity underlying its simplicity.—
Jonathon Keats,
Forbes.com,
28 Mar. 2025
Noun
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These deaths come on the heels of the equally bizarre and jarring death of Adult Lottie (Simone Kessell) which brings us to four adult survivors dead, though Adult Travis died offscreen (sparking a really fascinating mystery that ended in sheer stupidity and disappointment).—
Erik Kain,
Forbes.com,
5 Apr. 2025
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Also helpful is the show’s other winning quality: an enthusiastic embrace of its own stupidity.—
Nicholas Quah,
Vulture,
25 Mar. 2025
Noun
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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
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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
Noun
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The property also grows its own herbs, greens, nuts, berries, and edible flowers.—
Bianca Salonga,
Forbes,
6 Jan. 2025
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Focus on whole foods like fruits, leafy green vegetables, fatty fish, nuts, and seeds.—
Lindsay Curtis,
Health,
5 Jan. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Folly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/folly. Accessed 14 Apr. 2025.
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