Folly

Definition: Folly

Folly

Noun

1. The trait of acting stupidly or rashly.

2. A stupid mistake.

3. The quality of being rash and foolish.

4. Foolish or senseless behavior.

Date "folly" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1010. (references)

Etymology: Folly \Fol"ly\, noun; plural Follies. [from Old English expression folie, foli, French folie, from fol, fou, foolish, mad. See Fool.]. (references)

Domain	Definition
Satire	FOLLY, n. That "gift and faculty divine" whose creative and controlling energy inspires Man's mind, guides his actions and adorns his life. Folly! although Erasmus praised thee once In a thick volume, and all authors known, If not thy glory yet thy power have shown, Deign to take homage from thy son who hunts Through all thy maze his brothers, fool and dunce, To mend their lives and to sustain his own, However feebly be his arrows thrown, Howe'er each hide the flying weapons blunts. All-Father Folly! be it mine to raise, With lusty lung, here on his western strand With all thine offspring thronged from every land, Thyself inspiring me, the song of praise. And if too weak, I'll hire, to help me bawl, Dick Watson Gilder, gravest of us all. Aramis Loto Frope. Source: Devil's Dictionary.
Literature	Folly Father of Folly (Abu Jahl), an aged chief, who led a hundred horse and seven hundred camels against Mahomet and fell at the battle of Bedr. His own people called him Father of Wisdom (Abu' Lhoem). Folly. A fantastic or foolishly extravagant country seat, built for amusement or vainglory. (French, folie. "We have in this country a word (namely, Folly) which has a technical appropriation to the case of fantastic buildings." - De Quincey: Essays on the Poets (Keats, p. 90). Fisher's Folly. A large and beautiful house in Bishopsgate, with pleasure-gardens, bowling-green, and hot-houses, built by Jasper Fisher, one of the six clerks of Chancery and a Justice of the Peace. Queen Elizabeth lodged there. "Kirby's castle, and Fisher's folly, Spinola's pleasure, and Megse's glory." Stowe: Surrey. Source: Brewer's Dictionary.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Synonyms: Folly

Synonyms: betise (n), craziness (n), foolery (n), foolishness (n), imbecility (n), indulgence (n), stupidity (n), tomfoolery (n), unwiseness (n). (additional references)

Antonym: wisdom (n). (additional references)

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Abode	House, mansion, place, villa, cottage, box, lodge, hermitage, rus in urbe, folly, rotunda, tower, chateau, castle, pavilion, hotel, court, manor-house, capital messuage, hall, palace; kiosk, bungalow; casa, country seat, apartment house, flat house, frame house, shingle house, tenement house; temple.
Imbecility Folly	Folly, frivolity, irrationality, trifling, nugacity, inconsistency, lip wisdom, conceit; sophistry; giddiness; (inattention); eccentricity; extravagance; (absurdity); rashness.
	Act of folly.
Unskillfulness	Folly, stupidity; indiscretion; (rashness); thoughtlessness; (inattention) (neglect); sabotage.
	Blunder; (mistake); etourderie gaucherie, act of folly, balourdise; botch, botchery; bad job, sad work.
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

Domain	Usage
Screenplays	It is folly. (The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring; writing credit: Frances Walsh) Once I said that one day you and I would commit a great folly. It was I who did by not leaving my heart in your keeping (Lillie; writing credit: James Brough; David Butler) Oh, my dear, one day you and I will commit a great folly. (Lillie; writing credit: James Brough; David Butler)
Movie/TV Titles	Chilly's Ice Folly (1970) Lisa's Folly (1970) Nelly's Folly (1961) Folly to Be Wise (1953) Flight from Folly (1945)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Domain	Title
Books	Big Plans: The Allure and Folly of Urban Design (Center Books on Contemporary Landscape Design) (reference) The Folly Of Assumption (reference) Fools & Folly (Edam Monograph Series, Vol 22) (reference) Lotto: Is the Lottery Fun or Folly (reference) Praise of Folly and Letter to Maarten Van Dorp (Penguin Classics) (reference) (more book examples)

Theater & Movies	Smokey the Bear:Founders Day Folly (reference) (more DVD examples; more video examples)

Music	Folie Douce (Sweet Folly) Renaissance Improvisations (reference) Folly Seeing All This (reference) Stuart's Folly (reference) (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Thumbnail	Description & Credit	Thumbnail	Description & Credit
	Gentle surf on the Folly Island Beach. Credit: America's Coastlines.		A large phragmites plant in the wetlands of Folly Island. Credit: America's Coastlines.
	Fishermen's dories on the rocks at Folly Cove, Cape Ann, Massachusetts Drawing by H. W. Elliott. Credit: National Marine Fisheries Historical Image Collection.		The folly of secession. Credit: Library of Congress.
	Coming Robert Warwick and Doris Kenyon in "A girl's folly" / KD. Credit: Library of Congress.		Folly Island, S.C. (vicinity of Charleston). Beached remains of the British-built blockade runner Ruby, run aground after passing the Federal squadron, June 10-11, 1863. Credit: Library of Congress.
	Folly. Credit: Library of Congress.		Robinson's Folly, Mackinac Island, Mich. Credit: Library of Congress.
	Folly or saintliness / Ethel Reed. Credit: Library of Congress.		New York Sunday Journal--32 pages for 3 cents--Uncle Sam's fatal folly ... / Brill. Credit: Library of Congress.
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

Author	Quotation
Baltasar Gracian	Beauty and folly are generally companions.
Francois	Who lives without folly is not so wise as he thinks.
Gaius Valerius Catullus	Poor Catullus, you should cease your folly.
Lord Byron	Folly loves the martyrdom of fame.
Pliny The Elder	The best plan is to profit by the folly of others.
Pythagoras	Anger begins in folly, and ends in repentance.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge	. . . the folly of men is the wisdom of God.
Thomas Gray	Where ignorance is bliss, 'Tis folly to be wise.
William Blake	The fool who persists in his folly will become wise.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Author	Date	Quotation
John Locke	1690	Whensoever therefore the legislative shall transgress this fundamental rule of society; and either by ambition, fear, folly or corruption, endeavour to grasp themselves, or put into the hands of any other, an absolute power over the lives, liberties, and estates of the people; by this breach of trust they forfeit the power the people had put into their hands for quite contrary ends, and it devolves to the people, who. (Second Treatise of Government)
Winston S. Churchill	1946	Now, at this sad and breathless moment, we are plunged in the hunger and distress which are the aftermath of our stupendous struggle; but this will pass and may pass quickly, and there is no reason except human folly or sub-human crime which should deny to all the nations the inauguration and enjoyment of an age of plenty. ("Iron Curtain" Speech)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Title	Author	Quote
Emma	Austen, Jane	Nothing, but that the lessons of her past folly might teach her humility and circumspection in future
Scarlet Letter	Hawthorne, Nathaniel	It was my folly, and thy weakness
Les Miserables	Hugo, Victor	And the spirit, after freeing itself from the folly, plunges into the clouds
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man	Joyce, James	A sin, an instant of folly and weakness, drove Adam and Eve out of Eden and brought death and suffering into the world
Gulliver's Travels	Swift, Jonathan	I lamented my own folly and willfulness in attempting a second voyage against the advice of all my friends and relations
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Subject	Topic	Quote
Health		The right to folly is not guaranteed, especially if society retains a residual obligation to deal with the results of a poor choice. (references)
Lexicography	Devil's Dictionary	EXPERIENCE, n. The wisdom that enables us to recognize as an undesirable old acquaintance the folly that we have already embraced. To one who, journeying through night and fog, Is mired neck-deep in an unwholesome bog, Experience, like the rising of the dawn, Reveals the path that he should not have gone. Joel Frad Bink
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Speaker	Phrase(s)
Rush Limbaugh	For us to think that we have the ability, just by virtue of living our lives in a way that enhances our lives, to destroy this planet is the height of folly.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Speaker	Term	Phrase(s)
James Madison	1809-1817	To superadd a fresh motive to emigration by revoking the liberty which they now enjoy, would be the same species of folly which has dishonored and depopulated flourishing kingdoms.
Ronald Reagan	1981-1989	If history teaches anything, it teaches self-delusion in the face of unpleasant facts is folly.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

"Folly" is generally used as a noun (proper) -- approximately 50.25% of the time. "Folly" is used about 986 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Noun (proper)	50.25%	495	12,127
Noun (singular)	49.75%	490	12,222
Total	100.00%	986	N/A

The following table summarizes names derived from the word "folly".
Name	Gender	Language	Meaning
Ahithophel	N/A	Biblical	Brother of ruin or folly
Ulam	N/A	Biblical	Their folly
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Expressions using "folly": act of folly ♦ an act of unutterable folly ♦ Folly Beach ♦ height of folly ♦ piece of folly ♦ plain folly ♦ the height of folly. Additional references.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Language		Translations for "folly"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Albanian		Sjellje Pa Mend, Punë Pa Mend (puerility, stupidity), Ndërmarrje Aventureske, Marrëzi (amentia, fatuity, fatuousness, foolishness, ineptitude, insanity, lunacy, madness, nonsense, silliness, stupidity, tomfoolery), Budallallëk (crassitude, density, foolery, foolishness, imbecility, inanition, inanity, nonsense, opaqueness, tomfoolery). (various references)

Arabic		‏فكرة حمقاء, ‏حماقة (blindness, brainlessness, brutishness, crap, doltishness, dumbness, emptiness, fatuity, fatuousness, fat-wittedness, feeblemindedness, foolery, gaffe, hankey-pankey, hanky panky, idiocy, imbecility, insanity, nonsense, rot, silliness, stupidity, thick-wittedness, tomfoolery, unwisdom, weak-mindedness), ‏غباء (foolishness, opacity, stupidity, thickness), ‏عمل باهظ النفقة. (various references)

Bulgarian		Щуротия, Глупост, Глупава Прищявка, Безумие, Безразсъдство, Скъпа Но Безполезна Сграда. (various references)

Chinese		蠢事 , 愚蠢 (follies, foolish, stupidity, Stupidness). (various references)

Czech		Pošetilost (foolishness, silliness), Bláhovost. (various references)

Finnish		tyhmyys (foolishness, silliness, stupidity), mielettömyys (absurdity), hulluus (foolishness, insanity, madness), hulluttelu (clowning, frolic, gay pranks). (various references)

French		folie (foolishness). (various references)

German		Torheit (foolery, foolishness, stupidity), Verrücktheit (battiness, craziness, daftness, freakiness, insaneness, madness, screwiness, wackiness). (various references)

Greek		όωρία, Τρέλα, Βλακεία (Boner), Αφρωσύνη. (various references)

Hebrew		ְולת, ֻסילות, ָפשות, ִוללות, ִבלות, ִבל, טות, װתיות, ׁכלות. (various references)

Hungarian		ostobaság (bunk, bushwa, crassness, doltishness, fatuity, fatuousness, flimflam, foolery, foolishness, guff, haver, inanity, nonsense, piffle, rot, rubbish, silliness, stupidity, tomfoolery, tommy rot, tosh), butaság (blundering, bluntness, doltishness, fatuity, piffle, silliness, tosh), könnyelműség (frivolity, giddiness, improvidence, lightheadedness, trifling). (various references)

Indonesian		kegoblokan (stupidity), kegilaan (insanity, lunacy, madness, mania, psychosis, stupidity). (various references)

Italian		Follia (craziness, foolery, insanity, madness), stoltezza (foolishness, stupidity), Sciocchezza (balderdash, flapdoodle, foolish thing, foolishness, idiocy, malarkey, nonsense, silliness, stupidity, trash, trifle), Scemenza (daftness). (various references)

Japanese Kanji		愚行 (foolish move). (various references)

Japanese Katakana		ぐこう (foolish idea, foolish move, one's humble opinion), ばか (fool, idiot, trivial matter), こけ (fool, moss). (various references)

Manx		fardailys (frivolity, futility, insignificance, triviality), blebbinys (craziness, foolishness, tomfoolery), anchreeaght (foolishness). (various references)

Norwegian		dårskap. (various references)

Pig Latin		ollyfay.(various references)

Portuguese		tolice (applesauce, barney, blunder, bosh, bungle, fiddle-de-dee, flapdoodle, foolery, foolishness, guff, gup, howler, ineptitude, ineptness, infelicity, moonshine, mush, nonsense, piffle, rot, silliness, simplicity, tomfoolery, tommy rot, tripe, twaddle, unreason), loucura (brain sickness, crack, derangement, distraction, foolishness, freak-out, frenzy, insanity, lunacy, madness, mania), insensatez (absurdity, insanity, nonsense, unreason, unwisdom). (various references)

Romanian		Sucealã (absurdity, caprices, freaks, unreason, whims), Smintealã (damage, defect, harm, hindrance, lunacy, madness, mistake, shortcoming), Prostie (bosh, fatuity, foolery, foolishness, fudge, idiocy, ineptitude, lumpishness, madness, mischief, oafishness, obtuseness, obtusity, piffle, senseless remark, silly thing, simplicity, stupidity, tomfoolery), Poznã (caper, damage, farce, foolishness, freak, merry prank, mischief, practical trick, prank, roguery), Nebunie (craze, craziness, dementia, distraction, foolery, foolishness, frenzy, hobby, insanity, lunacy, madness, mania, mischief, phrensy, raving), Bazaconie (eccentricity, extravagance, hoax, singularity), Þicnealã. (various references)

Russian		глупость (asininity, crassitude, craziness, density, fatuity, fatuousness, foolery, foolishness, imbecility, inanity, long ears, piffle, silliness, stupidity, unreason, unwisdom, witlessness), Дурь, Глупость, Безумство, Безрассудное Поведение. (various references)

Scottish		faoineas (silliness, vanity), amaideachd. (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		glupost (flapdoodle, foolishness, poppycock, silliness, stupidity, tomfoolery). (various references)

Spanish		tontería (dispensation, farce, foolery, foolishness, jiggery pokery, nonsense, silliness, trumpery), Loquero (booby hatch), Locura (alienation, amok, amuck, craziness, insanity, lunacy, madness, piece of folly, wildness), Disparate (absurdity, applesauce, blunder, piffle), Disparado (discharged, dischargee). (various references)

Swedish		dårskap (daftness, foolery, fooly, madness). (various references)

Thai		ความเขลา (foolishness). (various references)

Turkish		Delilik (bug, craziness, crotchet, derangement, distraction, extravagance, foolery, insanity, lunacy, madness, mania, mental derangement, vagary, wildness), Dekor Ýçin Yapılmış Yapı, Aptallık (crime, fatuity, floater, foolery, fooling, foolishness, footle, hebetude, idiocy, ineptitude, silliness, stupidity), Aptalca Davranış (foolery, tomfoolery), Çılgınlık. (various references)

Ukrainian		Примха, Безглуздя (Abracadabra). (various references)

Vietnamese		sự điên rồ (foolhardiness), lời nói dại dột, hành động đại dột, ý nghĩ điên rồ, điều nực cười. (various references)

Welsh		ffolineb (foolishness), ffoledd (fatuity, foolishness), ynfydrwydd (foolishness), ehudrwydd (rashness), annoethineb (imprudence, unwisdom). (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Language	Period	Translations
Latin	500 BCE-Modern	dementia, dementiae, insania, insaniae, insaniam, insanias, stultitia, stultitiae, stultitiam. (various references)
Old English	450-1100	dysignese. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Language	Date	Source	Proverbs Chapter 26, Verse 11
Latin	405	Vulgate	Sicut canis qui revertitur ad vomitum suum sic inprudens qui iterat stultitiam suam
Middle English	1395	Wyclif	As an hound that tourneth ayeen to his vome; so an vnprudent man, that reherseth his folie.
Jacobean English	1611	King James	As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly.
Victorian English	1833	Webster	As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly.
Basic English	1964	Ogden	Like a dog going back to the food which he has not been able to keep down, is the foolish man doing his foolish acts over again.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Language	Proverbs Chapter 26, Verse 11
Cebuano	¶ Maingon sa usa ka iro nga nagabalik sa iyang sinuka, Ingon niana ang usa ka buang nga nagabalikbalik sa iyang binuang.
Chinese	愚昧人行愚妄事、行了又行、就如狗轉過來喫牠所吐的。
Croatian	Bezumnik se vraæa svojoj ludosti kao što se pas vraæa na svoju bljuvotinu.
Danish	Som en Hund, der vender sig om til sit Spy, er en Tåbe, der gentager Dårskab.
Dutch	Gelijk een hond tot zijn uitspuwsel wederkeert, alzo herneemt de zot zijn dwaasheid.
Finnish	Kuin koira, joka palajaa oksennuksilleen, on tyhmä, joka yhä uusii hulluuksiansa.
French	Comme un chien qui retourne à ce qu`il a vomi, Ainsi est un insensé qui revient à sa folie.
German	Wie ein Hund sein Gespeites wieder frißt, also ist der Narr, der seine Narrheit wieder treibt.
Haitian Creole	¶ Menm jan yon chen tounen vin manje sa li vonmi, se konsa moun san konprann yo ap toujou fè sa y'ap fè a.
Hungarian	Mint az eb megtér a maga okádására, úgy a bolond megkettõzteti az õ bolondságát.
Indonesian-Bahasa Sehari-hari	Seperti anjing kembali kepada muntahnya, begitulah orang bodoh yang mengulangi kebodohannya.
Indonesian-Terjemahan Lama	Seperti anjing balik makan muntahnya, demikianpun orang bodoh suka balik kepada bodohnya.
Italian	Come il cane torna al suo vomito, così lo stolto ripete le sue stoltezze.
Maori	¶ Ka rite ki te kuri e hoki nei ki tona ruaki, te wairangi e tuarua ana i tona poauau.
Norwegian	Lik hunden som vender tilbake til sitt eget spy, er en dåre som kommer igjen med sin dårskap.
Portuguese	Como o cão que torna ao seu vômito, assim é o tolo que reitera a sua estultícia.
Rumanian	Cum se kntoarce cknele la ce a vqrsat, awa se kntoarce nebunul la nebunia lui. -
Russian	лБЛ РЕУ ЧПЪЧТБЭБЕФУС ОБ ВМЕЧПФЙОХ УЧПА, ФБЛ ЗМХРЩК РПЧФПТСЕФ ЗМХРПУФШ УЧПА.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Misspellings
	"Folly" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: fally, ffly, foily, Folb, foldy, folky, foll, Folla, folley, follie, follied, follik, follo, foln, folv, foly, folye, Forli, fouly, fugly, fullfy, fuly, tolly. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

# of Phoneme Matches	Pronunciation	Word(s) rhyming with "folly" (pronounced fÄ"lē)
3	-Ä" l ē	bialy, Brolly, collie, Colly, jolly, Dolly, golly, holly, lolly, Mollie, Molly, poly, trolley, volley.
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "f-l-l-o-y"
	-2 letters: fly, foy.
	-3 letters: lo, of, oy, yo.
	Words containing the letters "f-l-l-o-y"
	+1 letter: foully.
	+2 letters: aloofly, blowfly, flyblow, focally, glowfly, jollify, loftily, mollify, wofully.
	+3 letters: fellowly, floppily, florally, floridly, flossily, flyblown, flyblows, folksily, formally, joyfully, sulfonyl, woefully.
	+4 letters: dolefully, doomfully, flowerily, flowingly, foolishly, forlornly, frontally, fulsomely, hopefully, joyfuller, songfully, soulfully, sulfonyls, toilfully, wolfishly, yellowfin.
	+5 letters: boastfully, colorfully, confocally, doubtfully, fabulously, flyblowing, footlessly, forcefully, formlessly, informally, jollifying, joyfullest, manifoldly, mollifying, mournfully, officially, playfellow, polyolefin, powerfully, scornfully, slothfully, sportfully, toploftily, wrongfully, yellowfins, yokefellow, youthfully.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.

Expression	Frequency per Day	Expression	Frequency per Day
folly beach	379	folly beach house rental	10
folly beach south carolina	319	folk folly	10
folly beach rental	78	folly beach surf report	10
kirks folly	60	beach cam folly surf	9
folly	42	folly lockwood	9
folly beach vacation rental	39	folly beach condo	9
sewards folly	31	folly beach sc hotel	8
folly beach hotel	28	beach cam folly	8
folly beach holiday inn	27	folly jewelry kirks	8
folly beach real estate	21	talleys folly	8
praise of folly	20	beach condo folly rental	7
folly island	19	folly beach lodging	6
cam folly surf	16	beach,sc folly	6
folly beach sc rental	14	folly theater	6
folly beach s.c	14	carolina folly island south	6
folly beach realty	14	folly beach vacation	5
folly march	12	folly beach south carolina rental	5
folly beach sc holiday inn	11	folly island realty	5
folly beach sc vacation rental	10	folly island sc	5
beach charleston folly sc	10	beach folly surf	5
		folly beach map	5
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Folly

Definition: Folly

Folly

Noun

Specialty Definition: Folly

Specialty Definition: Folly

Synonyms: Folly

Synonyms within Context: Folly

Abode

Imbecility Folly

Unskillfulness

Crosswords: Folly

Modern Usage: Folly

Screenplays

Movie/TV Titles

Commercial Usage: Folly

Books

Theater & Movies

Music

Image Slideshow: Folly

Photos:Folly

Illustrations:Folly

Photo Album: Folly

Digital Photo Gallery: Folly

Familiar Quotations: Folly

Baltasar Gracian

Francois

Gaius Valerius Catullus

Lord Byron

Pliny The Elder

Pythagoras

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Thomas Gray

William Blake

Historic Usage: Folly

John Locke

Winston S. Churchill

Use in Literature: Folly

Emma

Austen, Jane

Scarlet Letter

Hawthorne, Nathaniel

Les Miserables

Hugo, Victor

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Joyce, James

Gulliver's Travels

Swift, Jonathan

Non-Fiction Usage: Folly

Lexicography

Devil's Dictionary

Spoken Usage: Folly

Rush Limbaugh

Speeches: Folly

James Madison

Ronald Reagan

Usage Frequency: Folly

Derived & Related Names: Folly

Expressions: Folly

Frequency of Internet Keywords: Folly

Modern Translation: Folly

Albanian

Arabic

Bulgarian

Chinese

Czech

Finnish

French

German

Greek

Hebrew

Hungarian

Indonesian

Italian

Japanese Kanji

Japanese Katakana

Manx

Norwegian

Pig Latin

Portuguese

Photos:
Folly

Illustrations:
Folly