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folly

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folly¹

  • /ˈfɒli/ Northern England, UK, Wales
  • /ˈfɔlɪj/ British, Southern, Standard
  • /ˈfɑli/ US
  • /ˈfɔli/ Australia
  • /ˈfɒli/ New Zealand
  • [ˈfɔ̟li] ~ [ˈfɞ̠li] New Zealand

Rhymes with -ɒli

Where it comes from

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

noun follies

  1. countable, uncountable Foolishness that results from a lack of foresight or lack of practicality. It would be folly to walk all that way, knowing the shops are probably shut by now.
  2. countable, uncountable Thoughtless action resulting in tragic consequence. The purchase of Alaska from Russia was termed Seward's folly.
  3. countable, uncountable 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.

folly²

  • /ˈfɒli/ Northern England, UK, Wales
  • /ˈfɔlɪj/ British, Southern, Standard
  • /ˈfɑli/ US
  • /ˈfɔli/ Australia
  • /ˈfɒli/ New Zealand
  • [ˈfɔ̟li] ~ [ˈfɞ̠li] New Zealand

Rhymes with -ɒli

verb follies · follying · follied

  1. dialectal To follow. [T]hey druv the cow afore thim, the dog follied; but the cat, uv coorse, was lift behind: an' the other three childer wint along the road, pickin' haves and blackberries; for it was a fine day towst the latther ind uv harvist.

folly³

  • /ˈfɒli/ Northern England, UK, Wales
  • /ˈfɔlɪj/ British, Southern, Standard
  • /ˈfɑli/ US
  • /ˈfɔli/ Australia
  • /ˈfɒli/ New Zealand
  • [ˈfɔ̟li] ~ [ˈfɞ̠li] New Zealand

Rhymes with -ɒli

Where it comes from

Uncertain. The most common theory is that term primarily denotes a clump of trees and relates to French feuille, feuillée and English foliage; it has also been suggested that it refers to some perceived connection or resemblance of the named place to an architectural folly, but many places so named have no architectural follies and cannot be named directly for them.

noun follies

  1. A clump of trees, particularly one on the crest of a hill (or sometimes on a stretch of open ground). 'Every hill seems to have a Folly' [...] 'I mean a clump of trees on the top.'

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: foolishness, stupidity, foolery, imbecility, tomfoolery, craziness, unwiseness, indulgence, betise, stupid, fool, moria, jackassery, idiocy, blunder, insanity

Translations

Every language

noun foolishness

Españollocura, insensatez, necedad, nesciencia, nescedad
Portuguêsbobeira
Françaisfolie, sottise
DeutschTorheit, Narrheit, Dummheit, Tollheit, Aberwitz, Verrücktheit
Italianofollia, stravaganza
Românăprostie
Русскийглу́пость glúpostʹ, недомы́слие nedomýslije, дурь durʹ, блажь blažʹ, безрассу́дство bezrassúdstvo
עבריתאיוולת \ אִוֶּלֶת ivélet

noun thoughtless action

日本語愚行 gukō
中文蠢事 chǔnshì
DeutschFahrlässigkeit, Eselei, Unsinn, Verrücktheit, Wahnwitz
Русскийбезрассу́дство bezrassúdstvo, при́хоть príxotʹ, блажь blažʹ, безрассу́дный посту́пок bezrassúdnyj postúpok, глу́пый посту́пок glúpyj postúpok

noun fanciful building

Españolcapricho
Françaisfolie
DeutschZierbau, Prunkbau
Italianostravaganza, unicum, eccentricità, edificio decorativo
Românăclădire ornamentală

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Cite this
MLA

"folly." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/folly. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

folly. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/folly

Chicago

"folly." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/folly.

BibTeX
@misc{folly_2026,
  title = {folly},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/folly},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}