foolhardy
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of foolhardy
1175–1225; Middle English folhardy < Old French fol hardi. See fool 1, hardy 1
Explanation
If you decide you are going to scale Mt. Everest next weekend without any training or experience, that would be a foolhardy decision. Use the adjective foolhardy to describe someone who rushes into action without considering the consequences. Foolhardy is a combination of the noun fool and the adjective hardy, meaning "brave" or "bold." Put them together and you’ve got “foolishly brave.” Someone who is foolhardy throws caution to the wind and takes reckless chances. A foolhardy mistake is typically the result of this kind of impulsive behavior. But foolhardy doesn’t always imply foolishness or stupidity; foolhardy can convey courage and romance, as in the case of a foolhardy passion or desire.
Vocabulary lists containing foolhardy
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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.
See Examples For:
Walk into one such event and you are perpetually being sold on a single, perhaps foolhardy decision that could change at least the next few years of your life.
From Slate ● Jun. 18, 2026
Valuing a company that hasn’t made money at $1.8 trillion seems aggressive at best, foolhardy at worst.
From Barron's ● Jun. 3, 2026
Netflix is so dominant that it seems foolhardy not to bet on its continued success at this point.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 20, 2026
When Newby announced that he was running for a seat on North Carolina’s Supreme Court in the 2004 election, it seemed like a foolhardy choice.
From Salon ● Oct. 31, 2025
Oh yes, said Janine. . . . but not foolhardy, said Aunt Lydia, frowning a little.
From "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood
Only the foolhardiest would step up to Black Twitter, for example, and demand that it be more welcoming to non–African Americans.
From Slate ● Mar. 15, 2018
They leaned this way and that, the fronts of some thrust outward at an angle to forbid any but the foolhardiest from passing underneath.
From Lady Good-for-Nothing by Quiller-Couch, Arthur Thomas, Sir
We cooked some eggs on it, to show our unconcern, and while we were cooking them up came an American, who had pitched camp in the foolhardiest spot.
From True Tilda by Quiller-Couch, Arthur Thomas, Sir
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.
