1
as in insanity
a foolish act or idea
investing in that company now would be foolery
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in joking
wildly playful or mischievous behavior
let the kids have a little foolery once in a while
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of foolery
The whole of humanity doesn’t fit tidily into three acts, even assuming as much frame-breaking foolery as Wilder allows.
—
New York Times, 25 Apr. 2022
Political pranking is traditionally thought of as benign foolery targeting the powerful.
—Stanislav Budnitsky, The Conversation, 19 Apr. 2022
Eric Andre, Tyler the Creator and Machine Gun Kelly all drop by to participate in the Jack-foolery.
—David Fear, Rolling Stone, 2 Feb. 2022
Our magpie eyes will always be drawn to foolery and ephemera.
—Giles Hattersley, Vogue, 13 Dec. 2021
Once every ten years, the first of April assumes a far more significant importance than the annual sharing of April foolery.
—James Deutsch, Smithsonian Magazine, 15 Apr. 2020
All the organs of his body were working — bowels digesting food, skin renewing itself, nails growing, tissues forming — all toiling away in solemn foolery.
—John Hirschauer, National Review, 17 Sep. 2019
This single photograph simultaneously invokes the histories of racial violence and racial degradation, cruelly dismissing their gravity by casting them in the guise of comedy and youthful foolery.
—Drew Gilpin Faust, The Atlantic, 18 July 2019
The conceit allowed for some fancy dancing, along with a display of the talents of the musical director, Gregory Boover, who also portrayed Feste as a jazz musician, giving weight to his character’s foolery.
—Edward Rothstein, WSJ, 11 July 2019
New York Times, 25 Apr. 2022
Political pranking is traditionally thought of as benign foolery targeting the powerful.
—Stanislav Budnitsky, The Conversation, 19 Apr. 2022
Eric Andre, Tyler the Creator and Machine Gun Kelly all drop by to participate in the Jack-foolery.
—David Fear, Rolling Stone, 2 Feb. 2022
Our magpie eyes will always be drawn to foolery and ephemera.
—Giles Hattersley, Vogue, 13 Dec. 2021
Once every ten years, the first of April assumes a far more significant importance than the annual sharing of April foolery.
—James Deutsch, Smithsonian Magazine, 15 Apr. 2020
All the organs of his body were working — bowels digesting food, skin renewing itself, nails growing, tissues forming — all toiling away in solemn foolery.
—John Hirschauer, National Review, 17 Sep. 2019
This single photograph simultaneously invokes the histories of racial violence and racial degradation, cruelly dismissing their gravity by casting them in the guise of comedy and youthful foolery.
—Drew Gilpin Faust, The Atlantic, 18 July 2019
The conceit allowed for some fancy dancing, along with a display of the talents of the musical director, Gregory Boover, who also portrayed Feste as a jazz musician, giving weight to his character’s foolery.
—Edward Rothstein, WSJ, 11 July 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for foolery
Noun
-
This insanity has to stop before anyone else gets hurt.—
Emma Bussey,
FOXNews.com,
6 Nov. 2025
-
Though his legal team argued insanity, Guiteau was found guilty of murder in January 1882 and executed five months later.—
Allison DeGrushe,
Entertainment Weekly,
6 Nov. 2025
Noun
-
Self was in a joking mood when asked about the squad’s stellar defensive play.—
Gary Bedore,
Kansas City Star,
29 Oct. 2025
-
Jones eventually got into his joking bag, and Bleek took that opportunity to seriously set the record straight one last time.—
Armon Sadler,
VIBE.com,
15 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
Advertisement Aster keenly satirizes Joe’s idiocy in the face of social upheaval through the iconography of Westerns.—
Robert Daniels,
Time,
10 Oct. 2025
-
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
-
There was nothing particularly frightening about their Viennese waltz, which was a nice change from all the creepy tomfoolery earlier in the night.—
Lynette Rice,
Deadline,
28 Oct. 2025
-
This Survivor 49 challenge tomfoolery actually began before the season even started filming.—
Dalton Ross,
Entertainment Weekly,
8 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
The short uses stylized 3D and deadpan timing to explore routine, irritation and faint absurdity.—
Callum McLennan,
Variety,
7 Nov. 2025
-
Understanding the absurdity of one trillion anything makes the $38 trillion US national debt that economists have been blathering on about for years look almost sensible.—
Allison Morrow,
CNN Money,
6 Nov. 2025
Noun
-
Since medieval times, the colorful fool—from court jesters to Shakespeare’s characters—has used playful wit to critique authority and buffoonery to whip up excitement.—
Time,
Time,
30 Oct. 2025
-
Their relationship, tentative, intimate, and defiant, lingers long after the satirical skewering of male buffoonery has faded.—
Leila Latif,
IndieWire,
5 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
What starts as a cathartic process spirals out-of-control, as the line between justice and madness blurs.—
Jesse Whittock,
Deadline,
6 Nov. 2025
-
The American people will hate this madness, but that makes no difference to a president increasingly unmoored from reality.—
Newsweek Contributors,
MSNBC Newsweek,
5 Nov. 2025
Noun
-
Art, meanwhile, occupies a lonely table in the pizzeria and tries to put on his best clowning act for the two women.—
Declan Gallagher,
Entertainment Weekly,
31 Oct. 2025
-
As with older clowning traditions, the early American circus clowns were adults performing taboo acts to shock and delight other adults.—
Time,
Time,
30 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Foolery.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/foolery. Accessed 13 Nov. 2025.
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