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

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for bêtise
  1. blunder
  2. idiocy
  3. insanity
  4. absurdity
  5. folly
  6. stupidity
Noun
  • Burks said that leadership blunders are at the problem’s crux.
    — Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 24 Oct. 2026
  • Soon-to-be Cy Young Award winner Jacob Misiorowski held the Rays to just one run in his five innings, but certainly not without the help of some Rays baserunning blunders.
    — Ryan Morik OutKick, FOXNews.com, 24 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
  • That sentence would have sounded like insanity a few decades ago, but in the strange world of Hollywood in the 2020s, weirder might really be better.
    — Christian Zilko, IndieWire, 16 Oct. 2026
  • So this is just a build-up, and there is such insanity coming.
    — Derek Lawrence, Entertainment Weekly, 16 Oct. 2026
Definition of insanity
Noun
  • For all the absurdity, though, the award carries considerable weight — even if the timing is bittersweet.
    — Théoden Janes, Charlotte Observer, 22 Oct. 2026
  • That obsession reached its peak of exuberant absurdity on a Friday in late July of 1995.
    — Adam Sztykiel, HollywoodReporter, 20 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
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Bêtise.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/b%C3%AAtise. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of milieu

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Can' vs. 'May'

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

More Commonly Mispronounced Words

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World

Why do we 'bury the lede?'

'Za' and 9 Other Words to Help You Win at SCRABBLE
See More

Popular

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
different halloween monsters in silhouette
A Monstrous Vocab Quiz Words That Go Bump in the Night
See All