foolishness
Americannoun
-
lack of wisdom or good judgment; foolish quality.
Oh, the foolishness of thinking that wealth brings happiness!
-
foolish talk, ideas, or behavior.
How could someone with such a clever mind as yourself talk such foolishness?
-
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
Etymology
Origin of foolishness
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.
Was it a calculated risk or stubborn foolishness?
From Los Angeles Times
And what he sees, Page argues, is our own reflection — humanity, in all its fractured and flailing self-destructive foolishness.
From Los Angeles Times
They focused instead on human experience as it unfolds, moment by uncertain moment, capturing everyday foibles, errors and foolishness in the face of quotidian ruthlessness.
From Los Angeles Times
She had gambled on the family’s foolishness and self-delusion, and she had won by a length, as they say at the Derby.
From Literature
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.
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.
