1
as in insanity
lack of good sense or judgment
the foolishness of going off to search for the fountain of youth
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in nonsense
language, behavior, or ideas that are absurd and contrary to good sense
couldn't listen to another second of their foolishness, so I told them to be quiet
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in stupidness
the quality or state of lacking intelligence or quickness of mind
you didn't fail the test because of any innate foolishness but because of a lack of preparation
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of foolishness
This season Fears has shown both the maturity of the player who came back to discuss his actions with his head coach, and the foolishness of the hothead who responded with the hard foul.
—
Dana O’Neil, CNN Money, 19 Mar. 2026
Don’t be afraid of the foolishness.
—Selome Hailu, Variety, 21 Feb. 2026
Navarro devoted a chapter to the seductive foolishness of protectionist trade policies.
—Ian Parker, New Yorker, 22 Dec. 2025
The captain of the boat Zoë and Sarah came on watches them from afar, shaking his head at English foolishness.
—Rafaela Bassili, Vulture, 3 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for foolishness
Dana O’Neil, CNN Money, 19 Mar. 2026
Don’t be afraid of the foolishness.
—Selome Hailu, Variety, 21 Feb. 2026
Navarro devoted a chapter to the seductive foolishness of protectionist trade policies.
—Ian Parker, New Yorker, 22 Dec. 2025
The captain of the boat Zoë and Sarah came on watches them from afar, shaking his head at English foolishness.
—Rafaela Bassili, Vulture, 3 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for foolishness
Recent Examples of Synonyms for foolishness
Noun
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However, what seemed like the perfect life was really a complex house of cards built on lies and insanity.—
David Hookstead OutKick,
FOXNews.com,
16 June 2026
-
Support ballot measures or candidates (not named Steyer) focused on reforming the state’s zoning and regulatory insanity.—
Michelle Cottle,
Mercury News,
16 June 2026
Noun
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The only moments where Philly’s Shadstackzz isn’t rapping at full force are when the beats switch from one to the next or one of his boys—named nonsense like firbucketss and Broadday—tag in.—
Alphonse Pierre,
Pitchfork,
11 Dec. 2025
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When Kim finally got the mic back and tried to continue, Psalm somehow found another mic and began saying nonsense into it.—
Hannah Sacks,
PEOPLE,
11 Dec. 2025
Noun
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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
Noun
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Horkheimer and Adorno had concluded that advanced capitalism, far from being a technocratic monolith, had an inherent tendency toward chaos and madness.—
Alex Ross,
New Yorker,
15 June 2026
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Get your 28% discount before the Prime Day madness begins.—
Juhi Wadia,
PC Magazine,
15 June 2026
Noun
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The Naked Gun delivers joyous stupidity with true dedication.—
Alison Willmore,
Vulture,
1 Dec. 2025
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The article added that stupidity has become popular and viral.—
Miami Herald,
Miami Herald,
25 Nov. 2025
Noun
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That being said, this finishing layer is generally extremely thin—only about the thickness of a couple of sheets of paper.—
Daley Quinn,
Southern Living,
13 June 2026
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Biomass depends in part on the thickness of fungal filaments, meaning that even small errors in estimating their average diameter can dramatically affect the final calculation.—
Sam Macdonald,
Scientific American,
11 June 2026
Noun
-
There's a certain simplicity to it.—
Amber Harding OutKick,
FOXNews.com,
14 June 2026
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That kind of simplicity is nice.—
Eileen Finan,
PEOPLE,
13 June 2026
Noun
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On one hand, this is silliness; Swift barely even lived here.—
Steven Zeitchik,
HollywoodReporter,
8 June 2026
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That led to a whole lot of silliness.—
Phil Wahba,
Fortune,
2 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Foolishness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/foolishness. Accessed 17 Jun. 2026.
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