harebrained

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“
If it really was a no-brainer to make it on your own in business there'd be millions of no-brained, harebrained, and otherwise dubiously brained individuals quitting their day jobs and hanging out their own shingles.

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Definitions (5)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. adjective Foolish; flighty: a harebrained scheme.
  2. usage note
    The first use of harebrained dates to 1548. The spelling hairbrained also has a long history, going back to the 1500s when hair was a variant spelling of hare. The hair variant was preserved in Scotland into the 18th century, and as a result it is impossible to tell exactly when people began writing hairbrained in the belief that the word means "having a hair-sized brain” rather than "with no more sense than a hare.” While hairbrained continues to be used and confused, it should be avoided in favor of harebrained which has been established as the correct spelling.

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Examples (50)

  • And harebrained, but I have to work with what I've got. —  Michaels, Kasey - Too Good To Be True.html
  • Certain too was the fact that it would be dismissed by the shadow master as harebrained, lackwitted, and impossible of execution. —  Magazine - Fantasy and Science Fiction - [Vol 112] - Issue 03 - March 2007 (v1.0)
  • The blonde was a stereotypic nitwit—effervescent, harebrained, naive. —  AHMM,December2006
  • Harebrained. Absolutely harebrained, no doubt about it. —  A Touch of Scandal
  • Balancing the federal budget is not "harebrained" or "cynical" as the editorial writers suggest and the suggestion only reveals the out-of-touch thinking of The News Leader's editorial page. —  newsleader.com -
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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 hare + brain + -ed. Also written, incorrectly, hairbrained.
 

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/ˈhɛrbreɪnd/
by American Heritage

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