bêtise

noun

bā-ˈtēz How to pronounce bêtise (audio)
Definition of bêtisenext
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
  1. blunder
  2. idiocy
  3. insanity
  4. absurdity
  5. folly
  6. stupidity
Noun
  • The slip didn’t go unnoticed by Mikey Day’s Lorax, who later worked the blunder into the sketch.
    — Anna Tingley, Variety, 11 Oct. 2026
  • In the seventh inning of a 1-all tie, Teoscar Hernández redeemed himself for another fielding blunder with a single that finally drove dizzying Braves starter Tyler Mahle from the game.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 8 Oct. 2026
Definition of blunder
Noun
  • There's always been an element of complete idiocy in the culture.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 6 Oct. 2026
  • Forty years on, Spy magazine is best remembered, not unjustly, as the first entity to call out Trump for his tackiness, villainy, and arrant idiocy.
    — David Kamp, Air Mail, 3 Oct. 2026
Definition of idiocy
Noun
  • Claiming that white skin color is why Bueckers and other white women have had success/opportunities, is insanity.
    — Jon Root OutKick, FOXNews.com, 9 Oct. 2026
  • And that was like Vitalogy, probably the peak of the insanity.
    — Brian Hiatt, Rolling Stone, 6 Oct. 2026
Definition of insanity
Noun
  • Savage’s movie is so committed to its own absurdity that the extraordinary begins to feel mundane.
    — Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 9 Oct. 2026
  • But series creator Rolin Jones and his staff also fully understood the absurdity of that sentence.
    — Whitney Friedlander, Los Angeles Times, 8 Oct. 2026
Definition of absurdity
Noun
  • The running time seems a lot for one’s tolerance of a supervillain story and not enough, since the story of DOGE, a venal propaganda folly with a human cost, really needs its own separate feature.
    — Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times, 9 Oct. 2026
  • These words will not stop Leighton from trying, of course, which is the show’s way of expressing the folly of mankind itself.
    — Scott Tobias, Vulture, 9 Oct. 2026
Definition of folly
Noun
  • Learning that countless more people will lose their lives on account of his neglect, greed, and stupidity, he is pressed, reluctantly, into a most self-serving mode of damage control.
    — Justin Chang, New Yorker, 30 Sep. 2026
  • Nerdiest song for drummers This will probably come down to stupidity.
    — Devon Ivie, Vulture, 22 Sep. 2026
Definition of stupidity
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

betimes
bêtise
bêtises
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Cite this Entry

“Bêtise.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/b%C3%AAtise. Accessed 14 Oct. 2026.

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