as in blunder
a foolish act or idea
writing a sequel to a Jane Austen novel must be regarded as a literary bêtise of the highest order
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bêtise
Noun
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That was indicative of how Buffalo’s blunders proved costly.—
Hannah Keyser,
CNN Money,
18 Jan. 2026 -
It’s been one blunder after another during the early days of the Tony Dokoupil era at CBS Evening News.—
Josef Adalian,
Vulture,
15 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Vulnerability, fragility, insanity, real innocence … but also confusion, depression, extreme hurt, anger … stuck in our heads.—
Jack Irvin,
PEOPLE,
21 Jan. 2026
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Uthmeier is now calling on the Florida Legislature to narrow the insanity defense to ensure violent offenders stay confined in either prison or mental institutions.—
Sarah Rumpf-Whitten,
FOXNews.com,
20 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Telling the story of the clashing egos and raging idiocy of the fictional Spinal Tap, Reiner both directed and starred as the filmmaker-within-the-film Marty DiBergi.—
Brian Tallerico,
Vulture,
15 Dec. 2025
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Advertisement Aster keenly satirizes Joe’s idiocy in the face of social upheaval through the iconography of Westerns.—
Robert Daniels,
Time,
10 Oct. 2025
Noun
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But the comedians also used those laughs to reveal the fundamental absurdity of violence and conflict.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
7 Jan. 2026
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Rather than focusing solely on superpowers, the series leans into the absurdities and insecurities of the entertainment industry, pulling back the curtain on fame, failure, and second chances.—
Okla Jones,
Essence,
5 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Republicans also know how unpopular — like, really unpopular — Trump’s Greenland folly has been.—
S.E. Cupp,
New York Daily News,
22 Jan. 2026
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Here the glory is threaded with human folly.—
Owen Gleiberman,
Variety,
22 Jan. 2026
Noun
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My love of the theater and my love of the people who dedicate their life to creativity and the kind of highs and lows of that life, and the silliness and stupidity of that life, and the moments of elegiac grace.—
Mark Olsen,
Los Angeles Times,
22 Jan. 2026
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History suggests that the proficient cruelty of such regimes is unable to compensate for the stupidity and incompetence of their cadres.—
Elizabeth Tsurkov,
The Atlantic,
11 Jan. 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Bêtise.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/b%C3%AAtise. Accessed 26 Jan. 2026.
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