silly

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“
And yet you saw that malicious pamphlet that was circulated against me in Yiddish--silly, illiterate scribble Oh, no!"

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Definitions (21)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. adjective Exhibiting a lack of wisdom or good sense; foolish. See Synonyms at foolish.
  2. adjective Lacking seriousness or responsibleness; frivolous: indulged in silly word play; silly pet names for each other.
  3. adjective Semiconscious; dazed: knocked silly by the impact.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (12)

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

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (5)

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Examples

  • Johnson, who had shown no want of sympathy at the proper time, saw nothing in the partial disappointment of overrated expectations to warrant such ungoverned emotions, and rebuked him sternly for what he termed a silly affectation, saying that “No man should be expected to sympathize with the sorrows of vanity.” —  Oliver Goldsmith
  • This is just plain silly -- or should that be ridiculous? —  VERBATIM: The Language Quarterly Vol IX No 2
  • And yet you saw that malicious pamphlet that was circulated against me in Yiddish--silly, illiterate scribble Oh, no!" —  Children of the Ghetto A Study of a Peculiar People
  • Some of these are just plain silly (Asia's big five: elephant, leopard, rhinoceros, tiger, water buffalo; porteños: —  VERBATIM: The Language Quarterly Vol VIII No 2
  • She said, "What?" —  A Traitor to Memory
 

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Words tagged silly

petaflop · sillhouette

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Silly has been looked up 415 times, favorited 0 times, listed 45 times, and commented on twice.

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Related

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

foolish ·  ugly ·  wicked ·  funny ·  vulgar ·  crazy ·  miserable ·  pathetic
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 (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English seli, silli, blessed, innocent, hapless, from Old English gesælig, blessed.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. A modern form, with shortened vowel, of early modern English seely: see seely. This is one of the few instances in which an orig. long e (ee) has become shortened to i. The same change occurs in breeches, and in the American pron. of been, with no change in spelling.
 

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/ˈsɪli/
by American Heritage

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