foolish

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Trembling, she would have sunk to the floor, but her mother and sisters supported her, and by their tender care brought her back to consciousness Every day of the month that followed, Kwan-yin's relatives begged her to give up what they called her foolish notion.

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Definitions (16)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (7)

  1. adjective Lacking or exhibiting a lack of good sense or judgment; silly: foolish remarks.
  2. adjective Resulting from stupidity or misinformation; unwise: a foolish decision.
  3. adjective Arousing laughter; absurd or ridiculous: a foolish grin.

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Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

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Examples (50)

  • Upon this cursory inspection he held my work for a foolish waste of time and paper; and it would have been all over with my labour of love for that time, if my brother (Christoph), who had so often stood as protector by my side, had not just then been on a visit with us. —  Autobiography of Friedrich Froebel
  • He rallied his sister not a little, on what he called her foolish propensity to interfere between other people and their servants; he took her to task rather severely, for the imprudence of her purchase, and the high price she had paid; and he told her with a smile and a shake of the head, that one time or other, her foolish confidence and generosity would be her ruin. —  The White Slave; or, Memoirs of a Fugitive
  • But she had been, somewhere inside where she hid what she termed her foolish self, been disappointed His lips firmed and she met them, and felt that foolish self slip her leash. —  Stephanie Laurens - A Fine Passion
  • Perhaps the most pathetic aspect of such cases is their revelation of the premature dependence of the older and wiser upon the young and foolish, which is in itself often responsible for the situation because it has given the children an undue sense of their own importance and a false security that they can take care of themselves. —  20 Years At Hull House
  • "Right now the government is fossil-foolish, and we need to change that." —  The Herald | HeraldOnline.com - Front
 

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

stupid ·  wicked ·  weak ·  reckless ·  unhappy ·  romantic
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (1)

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from fool + -ish. The older adjectives were fool and folly.
 

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/ˈfulɪʃ/
by American Heritage

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