fatuity

noun

fə-ˈtü-ət-ē How to pronounce fatuity (audio)
Definition of fatuitynext
1
as in insanity
a foolish act or idea opening another auto dealership in an area that already has a surplus of them seems like a gross fatuity

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2
as in madness
lack of good sense or judgment local morning DJs lambasted the fatuity of the homeowner who used gasoline to burn a pile of brushwood

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3
as in obtuseness
the quality or state of lacking intelligence or quickness of mind the fatuity of the characters on that TV sitcom actually gets laughs

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Example Sentences

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.
Recent Examples of fatuity Despite the fatuity of the arguments being posited by the ESG critics, the investment industry is running scared. — Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 9 Dec. 2022 Molière escapes fatuity with his candor that what restores a universe unbalanced by intellectual obsession is, most often, normal erotic appetite. — Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 1 Feb. 2022 Their work, in and out of power, is to dress up the atavistic avarice and self-serving fatuity of the wealthy people who fund and shape conservative politics as an ideology. — David Roth, The New Republic, 9 June 2020
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fatuity
  1. insanity
  2. madness
  3. thickness
  4. idiocy
  5. simplicity
  6. stupidness
  7. absurdity
  8. unwisdom
Noun
  • Counsel was enraged that his gambit was foiled by one jury holdout on the insanity argument.
    — Voice of the People, New York Daily News, 2 Oct. 2026
  • Prosecutors questioned the schizophrenia diagnosis and pointed out that suffering from mental illness is not the same as meeting the legal standard of insanity.
    — Clara Harter, Los Angeles Times, 1 Oct. 2026
Definition of insanity
Noun
  • The director likens his own role on the trip to that of Bill, who is slowly driven to madness by worrying about a particular child, the class punching bag Kenneth (Olof Olingdahl).
    — Lily Ford, HollywoodReporter, 29 Sep. 2026
  • Common sense gun regulations are the only hope for reversing this madness.
    — Dan Sweeney, Sun Sentinel, 22 Sep. 2026
Definition of madness
Noun
  • While the polyester fabric isn’t ideal, I was impressed by the coat’s thickness and weight, which gave it a more luxurious feel than typical poly-blend coats.
    — Irene Richardson, InStyle, 29 Sep. 2026
  • By adjusting the concentration of ions and the thickness of the ionogel, the team created devices with different response speeds.
    — Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 28 Sep. 2026
Definition of thickness
Noun
  • Beavis and Butt-Head function as a note-perfect satire of teenage confidence and idiocy, but the sharpness of the writing has always belied the bottom-of-the-barrel intellect of its title characters.
    — Declan Gallagher, Entertainment Weekly, 10 Sep. 2026
  • It’s been a classic staple over decades of British comedy, which from Basil Fawlty to David Brent has rejoiced in puncturing pomposity to reveal idiocy and incompetence.
    — Alex Ritman, Variety, 7 Aug. 2026
Definition of idiocy
Noun
  • But the beautiful simplicity of East of Eden has always been its idea that nothing is finished.
    — Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 2 Oct. 2026
  • These poems are made with some of the simplicity and directness of a song.
    — Colm Tóibín, Literary Hub, 30 Sep. 2026
Definition of simplicity
Noun
  • In an email to Krebs, Valadon claimed that the repo’s commit logs show that GitHub’s default protections against committing secrets—protections designed to protect unwitting or unskilled developers against exactly this kind of stupidness—had been disabled by the repo’s administrator.
    — Lee Hutchinson, ArsTechnica, 19 May 2026
Definition of stupidness
Noun
  • Sadly, Showalter and the scriptwriter, Nick Antosca, are completely unable to meet these demands, with the result that the absurdities are all on the screen.
    — Richard Brody, New Yorker, 30 Sep. 2026
  • None of this ever accumulates much weight, however, since the conflicts are all dulled by the one-note absurdity of the farcical plotting.
    — David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 29 Sep. 2026
Definition of absurdity
Noun
  • Even at the outset of Covid-19, the unwisdom of lockdowns guided mainstream epidemiology.
    — Phillip W. Magness and Peter C. Earle, WSJ, 19 Dec. 2021
  • Dog-dad Daryl proves the unwisdom of bringing his pet to work and ends up crawling through a crack in the rocks to chase his pup.
    — Richard Rys, Vulture, 15 Aug. 2021
Definition of unwisdom

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fatuities
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Cite this Entry

“Fatuity.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fatuity. Accessed 7 Oct. 2026.

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