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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Base running blunder The Tigers had a great chance to put together a big inning in the second, after Trey Sweeney hit a sacrifice fly, knocking in a run.—
Ryan Ford,
Freep.com,
6 Oct. 2025 -
That blunder came one series after Slayton had a brutal drop on a 50-yard bomb from Dart that would have put the ball inside the Saints’ 20-yard line.—
Dan Duggan,
New York Times,
6 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Working with Chhaya clients who were facing foreclosure, Mamdani got an intimate look at the little insanities of the city’s housing crisis.—
Eric Lach,
New Yorker,
9 Oct. 2025
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Exantus was found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity but was sentenced for assault in the 2015 case involving 6-year-old Logan Tipton.—
Leo Bertucci,
Louisville Courier Journal,
9 Oct. 2025
Noun
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But my naivete and idiocy about what this was going to take was staggering to me just six months later.—
Scott Feinberg,
HollywoodReporter,
19 Aug. 2025
Noun
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With a setting both familiar and uniquely alien to all of us watching at home, there are few limits to the kind of absurdities the cast could get into.—
Kelly Lawler,
USA Today,
11 Oct. 2025
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More than anything, even amid the silliness and absurdities of the medical emergencies, the show’s feel-good moments, which involve people being saved and others working together, depict a deep humanity.—
Aramide Tinubu,
Variety,
10 Oct. 2025
Noun
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No one knows if Altman’s 250-gigawatt plan will prove to be brilliant or folly.—
Eleanor Pringle,
Fortune,
11 Oct. 2025
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And then the follies of the ensuing play, which supplanted the earlier stand at the very same spot on the field as the most indelible and revealing snapshot of the game.—
Chris Ochsner,
Kansas City Star,
7 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Its stupidity was entertaining, but its stupidity also freed me from having to think about it.—
Bilge Ebiri,
Vulture,
30 Sep. 2025
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The only reason for this incessant stupidity?—
Erik Kain,
Forbes.com,
18 Sep. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Bêtise.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/b%C3%AAtise. Accessed 13 Oct. 2025.
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