folly

folly
    n 1: the trait of acting stupidly or rashly [syn: {folly},
         {foolishness}, {unwiseness}] [ant: {wisdom}, {wiseness}]
    2: a stupid mistake [syn: {stupidity}, {betise}, {folly},
       {foolishness}, {imbecility}]
    3: the quality of being rash and foolish; "trying to drive
       through a blizzard is the height of folly"; "adjusting to an
       insane society is total foolishness" [syn: {folly},
       {foolishness}, {craziness}, {madness}]
    4: foolish or senseless behavior [syn: {folly}, {foolery},
       {tomfoolery}, {craziness}, {lunacy}, {indulgence}]
    

Folly \Fol"ly\, n.; pl. {Follies}. [OE. folie, foli, F. folie,
   fr. fol, fou, foolish, mad. See {Fool}.]
   1. The state of being foolish; want of good sense; levity,
      weakness, or derangement of mind.
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   2. A foolish act; an inconsiderate or thoughtless procedure;
      weak or light-minded conduct; foolery.
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            What folly 'tis to hazard life for ill. --Shak.
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   3. Scandalous crime; sin; specifically, as applied to a
      woman, wantonness.
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            [Achan] wrought folly in Israel.      --Josh. vii.
                                                  15.
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            When lovely woman stoops to folly.    --Goldsmith.
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   4. The result of a foolish action or enterprise.
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            It is called this man's or that man's "folly," and
            name of the foolish builder is thus kept alive for
            long after years.                     --Trench.
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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
    

73 Moby Thesaurus words for "folly":
      absurdity, absurdness, act of folly, asininity, battiness, blunder,
      brainlessness, buffoonery, clownishness, crackpottedness,
      crankiness, craziness, daffiness, daftness, desipience, dottiness,
      dumb trick, dumbness, eccentricity, error, fatuity, fatuousness,
      faux pas, fluff, foolery, foolheadedness, foolishness, frivolity,
      frivolousness, gaffe, giddiness, goof, goofiness, idiocy,
      imbecility, imprudence, inanity, indiscretion, ineptitude,
      insanity, irrationality, kookiness, lunacy, madness, mindlessness,
      mistake, niaiserie, nonsense, nugacity, nuttiness, obtuseness,
      preposterousness, queerness, rashness, sappiness, screwiness,
      senselessness, silliness, sottise, stolidity, stolidness,
      stupid thing, stupidity, thoughtlessness, triflingness, triviality,
      unwise step, wackiness, weak-mindedness, weirdness, witlessness,
      zaniness, zanyism