foolish

[ foo-lish ]

adjective

1. resulting from or showing a lack of sense; ill-considered: unwise:

   a foolish action;

   a foolish speech.

   Synonyms: thoughtless, imprudent, preposterous, nonsensical, absurd, ridiculous, unintelligent, senseless, brainless, witless, stupid

2. lacking forethought or caution.

   Synonyms: thoughtless, imprudent, incautious, heedless, half-baked, foolhardy, reckless, rash, impetuous

3. trifling, insignificant, or paltry.

   Synonyms: picayune, trivial

foolish

/ ˈfuːlɪʃ /

adjective

1. unwise; silly
2. resulting from folly or stupidity
3. ridiculous or absurd; not worthy of consideration
4. weak-minded; simple
5. an archaic word for insignificant

Derived Forms

• ˈfoolishly, adverb
• ˈfoolishness, noun

Other Words From

• fool·ish·ly adverb
• fool·ish·ness noun
• o·ver·fool·ish adjective
• o·ver·fool·ish·ly adverb
• qua·si-fool·ish adjective
• qua·si-fool·ish·ly adverb
• un·fool·ish adjective
• un·fool·ish·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of foolish¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; from Middle English folish, foolish; fool ¹, -ish ¹

Idioms and Phrases

see penny wise and pound foolish .

Example Sentences

Besides, assuming that Latinos would break the time-honored immigrant tradition of spitting on more recent arrivals was as foolish as thinking that Liz Cheney campaigning alongside Harris would do any good.

From Los Angeles Times

Colin Jost even appeared to throw his “Weekend Update” co-star under the bus, saying, “I hate how the lamestream media — Michael Che — tries to spin it to make you look foolish.”

From Los Angeles Times

Cheong and others in his camp argue that it is foolish for South Korea and its allies in the region to rely on the United States for their protection, an arrangement forged after the end of the Korean War in 1953 that granted the U.S. operational control of South Korea’s military.

From Los Angeles Times

The business fundamentals of Truth Social have so far been untethered from its company’s stock performance, and I am not foolish enough to take a guess at when that dissonance will end.

From Slate

Looking at the breadth of Donald Trump’s victory, then, it would be foolish to go too far down any particular rabbit hole of wrong tactical decision made here, inexact position on this issue there.

From Slate

Related Words

• absurd
• crazy
• fantastic
• ill-advised
• insane
• irrational
• ludicrous
• preposterous
• ridiculous
• silly
• stupid
• unreasonable
• unwise