bêtise
Americannoun
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lack of understanding, perception, or the like; stupidity.
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a stupid or foolish act or remark.
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something inconsequential or without merit; absurdity; trifle.
noun
Etymology
Origin of bêtise
1820–30; < French: literally, foolishness, equivalent to bête foolish ( see beast) + -ise -ice
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
They know that the battle is decided by fate, personified in what they like to call la bêtise humaine – the sheer stupidity of other people.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 20, 2012
I heard it from Octavia afterwards, who made a fearful bêtise.
From Elizabeth Visits America by Elinor Glyn
I’m not going to commit the bêtise of asking who she is.”
From The Secret of Lonesome Cove by Samuel Hopkins Adams
This bêtise of a war has made us all serious.
From Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern — Volume 4 by Hamilton Wright Mabie
This, translated into French, became that horrible gallicism: la bêtise Biche.
From The Lord of the Sea by M. P. (Matthew Phipps) Shiel
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
