folly

English

The Temple de l'Amour, a garden folly of the Château de Versailles (France), and more specifically, in the Petit Trianon part of it (sense 3)

The Casino at Marino from Marino (Dublin, Ireland), a Neoclassical folly (sense 3)

The Ionic Temple in Chiswick House gardens (London), with a obelisk in front of it (sense 3)

Etymology

From Old French folie (“madness”), from the adjective fol (“mad, insane”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈfɑli/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈfɒli/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒli
• Hyphenation: fol‧ly

Noun

folly (plural follies)

1. Foolishness.

   This is a war of folly to continue.

   It'd be folly.

2. Thoughtless action resulting in tragic consequence.

   The purchase of Alaska from Russia was termed Seward's folly.

3. A fanciful building built for purely ornamental reasons.

   A luncheonette in the shape of a coffee cup is particularly conspicuous, as is intended of an architectural duck or folly.

   • 2014 September 7, “Doddington's garden pyramid is a folly good show: The owners of a Lincolnshire stately home have brought the folly into the 21st century, by building a 30ft pyramid [print edition: Great pyramid of Lincolnshire, 6 September 2014, p. G2]”, in The Daily Telegraph‎^[1], London:

     It has been a long time since new follies were springing up across the great estates of Britain. But the owners of Doddington Hall, in Lincolnshire, have brought the folly into the 21st century, by building a 30ft pyramid in the grounds of the Elizabethan manor.

Related terms

• fool
• foolery
• foolish

Translations

foolishness

• Bulgarian: глупост (bg) f (glupost)
• Dutch: dwaasheid (nl), domheid (nl), stommiteit (nl)
• Esperanto: malsaĝeco
• Finnish: mielettömyys (fi), hulluus (fi), typeryys (fi)
• French: folie (fr), sottise (fr) f
• Galician: folía f
• German: Torheit (de) f, Narrheit (de) f, Dummheit (de) f, Tollheit (de) f, Aberwitz (de) m, Verrücktheit (de) f
• Greek:

  Ancient: ἀφροσύνη f (aphrosúnē), μωρία f (mōría), ἄνοια f (ánoia)

• Hebrew: אִוֶּלֶת / איוולת‎ (he) f (ivélet)
• Hungarian: butaság (hu), ostobaság (hu)
• Irish: díchiall f, amaidí f

• Italian: follia (it) f, stravaganza (it) f
• Latin: stultitia f, fatuitas f
• Latvian: neprātība f, neprātīgums m
• Manx: anchreeaght f
• Polish: głupota (pl) f
• Portuguese: bobeira (pt) f
• Russian: глу́пость (ru) f (glúpostʹ), недомы́слие (ru) n (nedomýslije), дурь (ru) f (durʹ), блажь (ru) f (blažʹ), безрассу́дство (ru) n (bezrassúdstvo)
• Scottish Gaelic: amaideachd, amaideas m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: лу̏до̄ст f

  Roman: lȕdōst (sh) f

• Swedish: dåraktighet (sv) c, dårskap (sv) n

thoughtless action

• Bulgarian: безразсъдство n (bezrazsǎdstvo)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 蠢事 (zh) (chǔnshì)

• Finnish: hullutus, hölmöily, hömpötys (fi)
• Galician: folía f
• German: Fahrlässigkeit (de) f, Eselei f, Unsinn (de) m, Verrücktheit (de) f, Wahnwitz (de) m
• Hungarian: könnyelműség (hu)

• Japanese: 愚行 (ja) (ぐこう, gukō)
• Latvian: neprātība f
• Russian: безрассу́дство (ru) n (bezrassúdstvo), при́хоть (ru) f (príxotʹ), блажь (ru) f (blažʹ), безрассу́дный посту́пок m (bezrassúdnyj postúpok), глу́пый посту́пок m (glúpyj postúpok)
• Scottish Gaelic: amaideachd f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: лу̏до̄ст f

  Roman: lȕdōst (sh) f

fanciful building

• French: folie (fr) f
• German: Zierbau m, Prunkbau m

• Italian: stravaganza (it) f, unicum, eccentricità f, edificio decorativo

Anagrams

• folyl