foolishness

American  

[foo-lish-nis] / ˈfu lɪʃ nɪs /

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.

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Other Word Forms

• overfoolishness noun
• unfoolishness noun

Etymology

Origin of foolishness

foolish + -ness

Example Sentences

The Epstein distraction bids to be another piece of foolishness that does more to inhibit Democrats’ return to real influence than advance it.

From The Wall Street Journal

Mr. Clooney has never had a better role, and he burrows deeply into it with a self-interrogating combination of narcissism, foolishness, bravado and charisma.

From The Wall Street Journal

Observers have long shrugged off the danger with the complacent idea that students will see through their professors’ foolishness—if not right away, then when they enter the “real world.”

From The Wall Street Journal

On the one hand, decades of failure, foolishness and shortsighted elite greed have eroded the trust between Americans and the political and administrative mandarins.

From The Wall Street Journal

But even if a sketch doesn’t quite work, you could rest in knowing its discomfort is temporary, with the irritant or foolishness changing every few minutes.

From Salon

Related Words

• absurdity
• bunk
• craziness
• folly
• indiscretion
• insanity
• irrationality
• irresponsibility
• lunacy
• rubbish
• silliness
• stupidity