Meanings
comparative more foolish · superlative most foolish
- Lacking good sense or judgement as a general trait; unwise; stupid.
His wife and the neighbours lamented over his strange conduct, his dullness and melancholy, and began to think that he was grown foolish.
1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume I, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 3181 more example
Next season will, as ever, be a different matter, another problem for Conte to solve as he looks to extend his personal record of four straight league titles in club football across England and Italy. Given his hunger for more – more time, more detail, more work – only the brave or the foolish would bet against him.
2017 May 13, Barney Ronay, “Antonio Conte’s brilliance has turned Chelsea’s pop-up team into champions”, in the Guardian - usuallydecision; system; decision; systemNot based on good sense or judgement; as a fool would do or conclude.
As a political system democracy seems to me extraordinarily foolish, but I would not go out of my way to protest against it. My servant is, so far as I am concerned, welcome to as many votes as he can get. I would very gladly make mine over to him if I could.
1915, G[eorge] A. Birmingham [pseudonym; James Owen Hannay], chapter I, in Gossamer, New York, N.Y.: George H. Doran Company, →OCLC - Resembling or characteristic of a fool.
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectivedevoid of good sense or judgment
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Middle Englishfolisch
- Englishfoolish
From Middle English folisch; equivalent to fool + -ish.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek ἄφρων
- ἄφρων (áphrōn)lacking good sense or judgement; unwise
Arabic أَحْمَق, غَبِيّ
- أَحْمَق (ʔaḥmaq)lacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- غَبِيّ (ḡabiyy)lacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- سَفِيه (safīh)lacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- مُغَفَّل (muḡaffal)lacking good sense or judgement; unwise
Bengali মূর্খ
- মূর্খ (murkho)lacking good sense or judgement; unwise
Bulgarian неразу́мен, глу́пав
- неразу́мен (nerazúmen)lacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- глу́пав (glúpav)lacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- глупав (glupav)resembling or characteristic of a fool
Catalan ximple
- ximplelacking good sense or judgement; unwise
Chinese Cantonese 傻, 笨
- 傻 (so⁴)lacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- 笨 (ban⁶)lacking good sense or judgement; unwise
Chinese Mandarin 笨, 傻
- 笨 (bèn)lacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- 傻 (shǎ)lacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- 蠢 (chǔn)lacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- 愚蠢的 (yúchǔn de)lacking good sense or judgement; unwise
Czech pošetilý, hloupý
- pošetilýlacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- hloupýlacking good sense or judgement; unwise
Danish tåbelig, dum
- tåbeliglacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- dumlacking good sense or judgement; unwise
Dutch onverstandig, dom
- onverstandiglacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- domlacking good sense or judgement; unwise
Esperanto malsaĝa, stulta
- malsaĝalacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- stultalacking good sense or judgement; unwise
Estonian rumal, narr
- rumallacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- narrlacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- tobelacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- lolllacking good sense or judgement; unwise
Finnish houkkamainen
- houkkamainenlacking good sense or judgement; unwise
French sot, stupide
- sotlacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- stupidelacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- bêtelacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- idiotlacking good sense or judgement; unwise
German dumm, närrisch
- dummlacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- närrischlacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- törichtlacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- dummresembling or characteristic of a fool
- törichtresembling or characteristic of a fool
- närrischresembling or characteristic of a fool
Greek ανόητος
- ανόητος (anóitos)lacking good sense or judgement; unwise
Hebrew מטופש, טיפשי
- מטופש (metupásh)lacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- טיפשי (tipshí)lacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- מטופש (metupásh)resembling or characteristic of a fool
- טיפשי (tipshí)resembling or characteristic of a fool
Hindi मूर्ख
- मूर्ख (mūrkh)lacking good sense or judgement; unwise
Hungarian buta
- butalacking good sense or judgement; unwise
Icelandic heimskur
- heimskurlacking good sense or judgement; unwise
Irish leibideach, díchéillí
- leibideachlacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- díchéillílacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- aimhghliclacking good sense or judgement; unwise
Italian babbeo, sciocco
- babbeolacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- scioccolacking good sense or judgement; unwise
Japanese 愚かな, 馬鹿げた
- 愚かな (oroka na)lacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- 馬鹿げた (bakageta)lacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- 馬鹿な (baka na)lacking good sense or judgement; unwise
Korean 어리석다, 둔하다
- 어리석다 (eoriseokda)lacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- 둔하다 (dunhada)lacking good sense or judgement; unwise
Latin fatuus, stultus
- fatuuslacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- stultuslacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- mōruslacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- ineptuslacking good sense or judgement; unwise
Latvian muļķīgs, dumjš
- muļķīgslacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- dumjšlacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- neprātīgslacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- muļķīgsresembling or characteristic of a fool
- dumjšresembling or characteristic of a fool
- neprātīgsresembling or characteristic of a fool
Lithuanian kvailas, neprotingas
- kvailaslacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- neprotingaslacking good sense or judgement; unwise
Māori manuware, nenekara
- manuwarelacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- nenekaralacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- rūrūwailacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- heahealacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- wawaulacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- hukehukelacking good sense or judgement; unwise
Norwegian Bokmål tåpelig, dum
- tåpeliglacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- dumlacking good sense or judgement; unwise
Persian احمق, ببو
- احمق (ahmaq)lacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- ببو (babu)lacking good sense or judgement; unwise
Polish niemądry, głupi
- niemądrylacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- głupilacking good sense or judgement; unwise
Portuguese idiota, tolo
- idiotalacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- tololacking good sense or judgement; unwise
Romanian prost, tont
- prostlacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- tontlacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- nerodlacking good sense or judgement; unwise
Russian глу́пый, дура́цкий
- глу́пый (glúpyj)lacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- дура́цкий (duráckij)lacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- дурно́й (durnój)lacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- идио́тский (idiótskij)lacking good sense or judgement; unwise
Scottish Gaelic amaideach, faoin
- amaideachlacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- faoinlacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- amaideachresembling or characteristic of a fool
Slovak pochabý, hlúpy
- pochabýlacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- hlúpylacking good sense or judgement; unwise
Spanish tonto, necio
- tontolacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- neciolacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- imprudentelacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- tabalacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- lonyipietrolacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- lonyilacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- nesciolacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- majaderolacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- insensatolacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- otariolacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- estultolacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- sandiolacking good sense or judgement; unwise
Swedish dåraktig, dum
- dåraktiglacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- dumlacking good sense or judgement; unwise
Thai โง่
- โง่ (ngôo)lacking good sense or judgement; unwise
Turkish ahmak, akılsız
- ahmaklacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- akılsızlacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- aptalcalacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- enayicelacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- sersemlacking good sense or judgement; unwise
- angutlacking good sense or judgement; unwise
Ukrainian дурни́й
- дурни́й (durnýj)lacking good sense or judgement; unwise
Urdu مورکھ
- مورکھ (mūrkh)lacking good sense or judgement; unwise
Vietnamese dại dột
- dại dộtlacking good sense or judgement; unwise
Yiddish נאַריש
- נאַריש (narish)lacking good sense or judgement; unwise
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with foolish
All rhymes →Cite this entry
foolish. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/foolish
“foolish.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/foolish. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “foolish,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/foolish.
Source: foolish on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.