foolishness

English

Etymology

From Middle English folishnesse, follissnesse, equivalent to foolish +‎ -ness.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈfuːlɪʃnəs/
  • Audio (US):(file)

Noun

foolishness (countable and uncountable, plural foolishnesses)

  1. (uncountable) The state of being foolish.
    • 1900 June 14, E. E. Hasty, “The Afterthought: The ‘Old Reliable’ seen thru New and Unreliable Glasses”, in George W. York, editor, American Bee Journal, 40th year, number 24, Chicago, Ill., Robber-Bees and Balled Queens, page 374, column 1:
      On page 297 [“Queens Not Balled Thru Robbers”], that quotation from a foreign bee-paper, about the foolishness of thinking that robber-bees ball a queen, is probably all right in the main. Robbers are indeed there for honey—not for reginacide—but perchance no one interferes, and after awhile the honey is gone, and the hive is filled with a miscellaneous crowd largely new comers, who are like a city mob, “the more part know not wherefore they are come together.”
  2. (countable) A thing or event that is foolish, or an absurdity.

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