foolishness

[foo-lish-nis]

noun

1. lack of wisdom or good judgment; foolish quality.

   Oh, the foolishness of thinking that wealth brings happiness!

2. foolish talk, ideas, or behavior.

   How could someone with such a clever mind as yourself talk such foolishness?

3. a foolish act, error, habit, etc..

   Shakespeare, who looks at all men as if from Mount Olympus, notes their foibles and foolishnesses, and yet smiles on them all.

Other Word Forms

• overfoolishness noun
• unfoolishness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of foolishness¹

foolish + -ness

Example Sentences

As Dickens prophetically reminds us, ours is hardly the first age of wisdom and of foolishness, the first epoch of belief and of incredulity.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

It’s difficult not to dwell on just how clownish our current reality has become while witnessing the absolute foolishness of this spectacle.

Read more on Salon

Diomande's act of foolishness just put the tin hat on it.

Read more on BBC

Addressing Patterson directly, he questioned what "foolishness" had led her to think "murder could be the solution to her problems" - especially given the crime was committed against people who bore her only good will.

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Fold that talent into any decent parody of mediocre psychological thrillers, and ideally all we’d have to do is sit back and watch everyone alchemize TV movie tin into gold medal foolishness.

Read more on Salon

Related Words

• absurdity 
• bunk 
• craziness 
• folly 
• indiscretion 
• insanity 
• irrationality 
• irresponsibility www.thesaurus.com
• lunacy 
• rubbish 
• silliness 
• stupidity