What does foolishness mean?
Definitions for foolishness
fool·ish·ness
This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word foolishness.
Princeton's WordNet
folly, foolishness, unwisenessnoun
the trait of acting stupidly or rashly
folly, foolishness, craziness, madnessnoun
the quality of being rash and foolish
"trying to drive through a blizzard is the height of folly"; "adjusting to an insane society is total foolishness"
stupidity, betise, folly, foolishness, imbecilitynoun
a stupid mistake
Wiktionary
foolishnessnoun
The state of being foolish.
foolishnessnoun
A thing or event that is foolish, or an absurdity.
Samuel Johnson's Dictionary
Foolishnessnoun
Etymology: from foolish.
Foolishness being properly a man’s deviation from right reason, in point of practice, must needs consist in his pitching upon such an end as is unsuitable to his condition, or pitching upon means unsuitable to the compassing of his end. South.
Charm’d by their eyes, their manners I acquire,
And shape my foolishness to their desire. Matthew Prior.
Wikipedia
Foolishness
Foolishness is the unawareness or lack of social norms which causes offence, annoyance, trouble and/or injury. The things such as impulsivity and/or influences may affect a person's ability to make otherwise reasonable decisions. In this sense, it differs from stupidity, which is the lack of intelligence. An act of foolishness is called folly.
ChatGPT
foolishness
Foolishness is a lack of good sense, understanding, or foresight. It is behavior characterized by stupidity, recklessness, or thoughtlessness, often resulting in negative or harmful outcomes. It can also refer to an act or idea that is considered to be absurd, ridiculous, or lacking in logical reasoning.
Webster Dictionary
Foolishnessnoun
the quality of being foolish
Foolishnessnoun
a foolish practice; an absurdity
Usage in printed sourcesFrom:
- [["1520","1"],["1579","1"],["1582","2"],["1584","1"],["1587","2"],["1590","2"],["1620","1"],["1652","1"],["1656","1"],["1660","1"],["1663","4"],["1667","2"],["1668","2"],["1670","1"],["1673","2"],["1675","5"],["1676","8"],["1677","5"],["1678","10"],["1679","2"],["1681","4"],["1682","6"],["1683","4"],["1684","1"],["1685","1"],["1686","1"],["1688","1"],["1689","2"],["1690","1"],["1691","1"],["1692","1"],["1693","2"],["1694","4"],["1695","1"],["1696","1"],["1698","2"],["1699","9"],["1700","6"],["1701","11"],["1703","3"],["1704","6"],["1705","20"],["1706","13"],["1707","2"],["1708","3"],["1709","17"],["1710","3"],["1711","3"],["1712","5"],["1713","7"],["1714","11"],["1715","2"],["1716","11"],["1717","13"],["1719","1"],["1720","24"],["1721","3"],["1722","14"],["1723","22"],["1724","3"],["1725","5"],["1726","8"],["1727","24"],["1728","18"],["1729","3"],["1730","9"],["1731","8"],["1732","11"],["1733","2"],["1734","11"],["1735","3"],["1736","8"],["1737","13"],["1738","24"],["1739","5"],["1740","2"],["1741","6"],["1742","12"],["1743","12"],["1744","10"],["1745","2"],["1746","4"],["1747","9"],["1748","9"],["1749","9"],["1750","2"],["1751","21"],["1752","7"],["1753","14"],["1754","3"],["1755","28"],["1756","7"],["1757","21"],["1758","8"],["1759","31"],["1760","9"],["1761","23"],["1762","8"],["1763","43"],["1764","12"],["1765","18"],["1766","24"],["1767","8"],["1768","33"],["1769","6"],["1770","27"],["1771","6"],["1772","32"],["1773","29"],["1774","69"],["1775","25"],["1776","17"],["1777","36"],["1778","20"],["1779","18"],["1780","22"],["1781","21"],["1782","42"],["1783","16"],["1784","22"],["1785","7"],["1786","22"],["1787","39"],["1788","48"],["1789","15"],["1790","43"],["1791","46"],["1792","50"],["1793","71"],["1794","53"],["1795","86"],["1796","63"],["1797","35"],["1798","28"],["1799","61"],["1800","121"],["1801","222"],["1802","143"],["1803","177"],["1804","193"],["1805","152"],["1806","224"],["1807","161"],["1808","360"],["1809","262"],["1810","382"],["1811","506"],["1812","331"],["1813","268"],["1814","237"],["1815","375"],["1816","331"],["1817","416"],["1818","439"],["1819","239"],["1820","474"],["1821","364"],["1822","616"],["1823","525"],["1824","754"],["1825","731"],["1826","600"],["1827","411"],["1828","638"],["1829","638"],["1830","1216"],["1831","675"],["1832","801"],["1833","980"],["1834","627"],["1835","607"],["1836","559"],["1837","581"],["1838","542"],["1839","1273"],["1840","726"],["1841","783"],["1842","890"],["1843","712"],["1844","1185"],["1845","966"],["1846","802"],["1847","701"],["1848","765"],["1849","894"],["1850","999"],["1851","1083"],["1852","1035"],["1853","989"],["1854","1118"],["1855","949"],["1856","912"],["1857","738"],["1858","881"],["1859","893"],["1860","1031"],["1861","654"],["1862","683"],["1863","794"],["1864","726"],["1865","983"],["1866","805"],["1867","759"],["1868","867"],["1869","857"],["1870","905"],["1871","1046"],["1872","846"],["1873","935"],["1874","1019"],["1875","941"],["1876","936"],["1877","925"],["1878","845"],["1879","1030"],["1880","1066"],["1881","1143"],["1882","1202"],["1883","1227"],["1884","1354"],["1885","1221"],["1886","1017"],["1887","1275"],["1888","1209"],["1889","1107"],["1890","1204"],["1891","1320"],["1892","1462"],["1893","1471"],["1894","1316"],["1895","1425"],["1896","2077"],["1897","1892"],["1898","1776"],["1899","2481"],["1900","2287"],["1901","2105"],["1902","2319"],["1903","2461"],["1904","2744"],["1905","2166"],["1906","2605"],["1907","2645"],["1908","2771"],["1909","2312"],["1910","2664"],["1911","3018"],["1912","2568"],["1913","2720"],["1914","2464"],["1915","2179"],["1916","2409"],["1917","2313"],["1918","1861"],["1919","2198"],["1920","2340"],["1921","2258"],["1922","2536"],["1923","2101"],["1924","2170"],["1925","1997"],["1926","1823"],["1927","2133"],["1928","1968"],["1929","1922"],["1930","2052"],["1931","1821"],["1932","1601"],["1933","1564"],["1934","1640"],["1935","1985"],["1936","1923"],["1937","1933"],["1938","1936"],["1939","1670"],["1940","1600"],["1941","1528"],["1942","1368"],["1943","1441"],["1944","1228"],["1945","1363"],["1946","2034"],["1947","2103"],["1948","1896"],["1949","2210"],["1950","2104"],["1951","2214"],["1952","2106"],["1953","2231"],["1954","2174"],["1955","2311"],["1956","2645"],["1957","2940"],["1958","2809"],["1959","2896"],["1960","2861"],["1961","3348"],["1962","3584"],["1963","3646"],["1964","3629"],["1965","3738"],["1966","4217"],["1967","4265"],["1968","4873"],["1969","5287"],["1970","4961"],["1971","4744"],["1972","5294"],["1973","4706"],["1974","4784"],["1975","4954"],["1976","4889"],["1977","5369"],["1978","5248"],["1979","5194"],["1980","5526"],["1981","5263"],["1982","5952"],["1983","6614"],["1984","6585"],["1985","6603"],["1986","7332"],["1987","8418"],["1988","7792"],["1989","8336"],["1990","8714"],["1991","9198"],["1992","9872"],["1993","10232"],["1994","10954"],["1995","10932"],["1996","11635"],["1997","11327"],["1998","11721"],["1999","12965"],["2000","14762"],["2001","14956"],["2002","16749"],["2003","19385"],["2004","22267"],["2005","21630"],["2006","22622"],["2007","25665"],["2008","39331"]]
Numerology
Chaldean Numerology
The numerical value of foolishness in Chaldean Numerology is: 5
Pythagorean Numerology
The numerical value of foolishness in Pythagorean Numerology is: 6
Examples of foolishness in a Sentence
Now suppose someone brings a weapon or decided to do more foolishness, there will be announcements made and the stations made some disclaimers, but what if people don't listen to what they said and they entice violence.
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times it ws the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair we had everything before us, we had nothing before us we were all going directly to Heaven, we were all going the other way.
I'm not even into politics like that, i just want to continue doing my music and look after my family. I don't have time for this foolishness.
I'm an old-school value guy. There's a lot of foolishness in the markets with cryptos, NFTs and meme stocks.
People like that he’s willing to just say whatever foolishness comes to the top of his head.
Popularity rank by frequency of use
References
Translations for foolishness
From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary
- неразумност, глупостBulgarian
- pošetilostCzech
- tåbelighedDanish
- Torheit, DummheitGerman
- malsaĝecoEsperanto
- tontería, sandezSpanish
- typeryysFinnish
- amadántacht, leibideachtIrish
- amaideasScottish Gaelic
- meecheeallManx
- stupidità, sciocchezzaItalian
- stultitiaLatin
- dumjība, muļķība, neprātībaLatvian
- głupotaPolish
- глупостьRussian
- macchìne, bambidudineSardinian
- بیوقوفUrdu
Get even more translations for foolishness »
Translation
Find a translation for the foolishness definition in other languages:
Select another language:
- - Select -
- 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
- 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
- Español (Spanish)
- Esperanto (Esperanto)
- 日本語 (Japanese)
- Português (Portuguese)
- Deutsch (German)
- العربية (Arabic)
- Français (French)
- Русский (Russian)
- ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
- 한국어 (Korean)
- עברית (Hebrew)
- Gaeilge (Irish)
- Українська (Ukrainian)
- اردو (Urdu)
- Magyar (Hungarian)
- मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
- Indonesia (Indonesian)
- Italiano (Italian)
- தமிழ் (Tamil)
- Türkçe (Turkish)
- తెలుగు (Telugu)
- ภาษาไทย (Thai)
- Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
- Čeština (Czech)
- Polski (Polish)
- Românește (Romanian)
- Nederlands (Dutch)
- Ελληνικά (Greek)
- Latinum (Latin)
- Svenska (Swedish)
- Dansk (Danish)
- Suomi (Finnish)
- فارسی (Persian)
- ייִדיש (Yiddish)
- հայերեն (Armenian)
- Norsk (Norwegian)
- English (English)
Word of the Day
Would you like us to send you a FREE new word definition delivered to your inbox daily?
Citation
Use the citation below to add this definition to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"foolishness." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LTD, 2026. Web. 25 Jul 2026. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/foolishness>.
Discuss these foolishness definitions with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In