Dictionary

folly en · NOUN · etymology 1

Pronunciation

• /ˈfɔlɪj/ (British, Southern, Standard)
• /ˈfɑli/ (General-American)
• /ˈfɒli/ (New-Zealand)
• /ˈfɒli/ (Northern-England, Received-Pronunciation, Wales)
• (US) audio
• /ˈfɔli/ (Australia)
• [ˈfɔ̟li] ~ [ˈfɞ̠li] (New-Zealand)

Etymology

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

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) Foolishness that results from a lack of foresight or lack of practicality.
   • With the voices singing in our ears, saying That this was all folly. 1927 August, T[homas] S[tearns] Eliot, “[Ariel Poems.] Journey of the Magi.”, in Collected Poems 1909–1935, London: Faber & Faber […], published September 1954, →OCLC, page 107:
   • 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 treachery, or the folly, of my cousin's maid betrayed us. I was banished to the house of a relation far distant, and she was allowed no liberty, no society, no amusement, till my father's point was gained […]' 1811, [Jane Austen], chapter IX, in Sense and Sensibility […], volume II, London: […] C[harles] Roworth, […], and published by T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC:
   • Thames Water has become the latest object lesson in the predictable and predicted folly of privatised monopolies, aided by a regulator that’s an even bigger wet wipe than the fatbergs bunging up the sewers. 2023 June 30, Marina Hyde, “The tide is coming in fast on Rishi Sunak – and it’s full of sewage”, in The Guardian:
   • The purchase of Alaska from Russia was termed Seward's folly.
3. (countable, uncountable) A fanciful building built for purely ornamental reasons.
   • “The Villa Straylight,” said a jeweled thing on the pedestal, in a voice like music, “is a body grown in upon itself, a Gothic folly. […]” 1984, William Gibson, chapter 14, in Neuromancer (Sprawl; book 1), New York, N.Y.: Ace Books, →ISBN, page 172:
   • A great deal of eccentricity was expressed through the trend for ruin follies. But it wasn’t only the madness of paranoid earls and fashionable landowners that was encoded in them. 2018 April 18, Paul Cooper, “Europe Was Once Obsessed With Fake Dilapidated Buildings”, in The Atlantic:
   • A luncheonette in the shape of a coffee cup is particularly conspicuous, as is intended of an architectural duck or folly.
   • 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. 2014 September 7, “Doddington's garden pyramid is a folly good show”, in The Daily Telegraph, London:

Forms

Deriveds

folly tower · folliful · garden folly

Relateds

fool · foolery · foolish

Translations (109)

de Narrheit (foolishness) · grc ἀφροσύνη (foolishness) · gd amaideachd (thoughtless action) · ca follia (foolishness) · it stravaganza (foolishness) · gv anchreeaght (foolishness) · ro prostie (foolishness) · bg архитекту́рна приу́мица (fanciful building) · de Unsinn (thoughtless action) · sv dårskap (foolishness) · de Wahnwitz (thoughtless action) · fr sottise (foolishness) · es necedad (foolishness) · fr folie (foolishness) · gl folía (thoughtless action) · ru блажь (thoughtless action) · de Verrücktheit (thoughtless action) · eo malsaĝeco (foolishness) · es locura (foolishness) · de Dummheit (foolishness) · got 𐌳𐍅𐌰𐌻𐌹𐌸𐌰 (foolishness) · grc μωρία (foolishness) · sh lȕdōst (foolishness) · ru глу́пость (foolishness) · gl folía (foolishness) · nl follie (fanciful building) · ru глу́пый посту́пок (thoughtless action) · de Verrücktheit (foolishness) · mk непроми́сленост (thoughtless action) · gd amaideachd (foolishness) · la stultitia (foolishness) · hu könnyelműség (thoughtless action) · sv fåfänga (fanciful building) · mk будала́штина (foolishness) · de Tollheit (foolishness) · sh лу̏до̄ст (thoughtless action) · ja 愚行 (thoughtless action) · enm folie (thoughtless action) · fi hömpötys (thoughtless action) · bg глупост (thoughtless action) · he איוולת \ אִוֶּלֶת (foolishness) · de Eselei (thoughtless action) · fi typeryys (foolishness) · sv dåraktighet (foolishness) · mk безу́мие (foolishness) · mk лу́дост (foolishness) · is kjánaskapur (foolishness) · fi mielettömyys (foolishness) · grc ἄνοια (foolishness) · got 𐌿𐌽𐍆𐍂𐍉𐌳𐌴𐌹 (foolishness) · ca capritx (thoughtless action) · de Aberwitz (foolishness) · ro clădire ornamentală (fanciful building) · ln liboma (foolishness) · it unicum (fanciful building) · es capricho (fanciful building) · sh лу̏до̄ст (foolishness) · pl głupota (foolishness) · lv neprātība (thoughtless action) · ca capritx (fanciful building) · la fatuitas (foolishness) · fr folie (fanciful building) · nl dwaasheid (foolishness) · nl domheid (foolishness) · ru блажь (foolishness) · nl folly (fanciful building) · mi wawau (foolishness) · ru дурь (foolishness) · de Torheit (foolishness) · ru недомы́слие (foolishness) · hu butaság (foolishness) · lv neprātīgums (foolishness) · ru при́хоть (thoughtless action) · de Prunkbau (fanciful building) · bg безразсъдство (thoughtless action) · ga díchiall (foolishness) · it eccentricità (fanciful building) · is kenjahof (fanciful building) · de Fahrlässigkeit (thoughtless action) · es nescedad (foolishness) · pl głupstwo (thoughtless action) · es nesciencia (foolishness) · nl stommiteit (foolishness) · ca caprici (thoughtless action) · it follia (foolishness) · fi hulluus (foolishness) · fi hullutus (thoughtless action) · it stravaganza (fanciful building) · it edificio decorativo (fanciful building) · cmn 蠢事 (thoughtless action) · fi hölmöily (thoughtless action) · is dáraskapur (foolishness) · hy հիմարություն (foolishness) · ru безрассу́дство (thoughtless action) · es insensatez (foolishness) · pt bobeira (foolishness) · ru безрассу́дный посту́пок (thoughtless action) · de Zierbau (fanciful building) · ru безрассу́дство (foolishness) · ga amaidí (foolishness) · lv neprātība (foolishness) · ca bogeria (foolishness) · bg глупост (foolishness) · hu ostobaság (foolishness) · gd amaideas (foolishness) · enm folie (foolishness) · mk глу́пост (foolishness) · sh lȕdōst (thoughtless action) · pdt Domheit (foolishness)

folly en · VERB · etymology 2

Pronunciation

• /ˈfɔlɪj/ (British, Southern, Standard)
• /ˈfɑli/ (General-American)
• /ˈfɒli/ (New-Zealand)
• /ˈfɒli/ (Northern-England, Received-Pronunciation, Wales)
• (US) audio
• /ˈfɔli/ (Australia)
• [ˈfɔ̟li] ~ [ˈfɞ̠li] (New-Zealand)

Meanings

1. (dialectal) To follow.
   • Howandever, at the selfsame time, there was a gang of fellas from the valley of kings follying the very same pointy star. And didn't that pointy star point them king-fellas in the direction of Mary's cowstable. 2012, Honor Molloy, Smarty Girl: Dublin Savage, Boston, M.A.: Gemma, →ISBN, page 43:
   • "You got any money?" he said to me. ¶ "Hell no, maybe enough for a pint of whisky till I get to Denver. What about you?" ¶ "I know where I can get some." ¶ "Where?" "Anywhere. You can always folly a man down an alley, can't you?" 1957 September 5, Jack Kerouac, On the Road, London: Penguin Books, published 1976, →ISBN, page 23:
   • [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. 1850, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, London: H.G. Bohn, page 526:
   • "Anybody got the makin's?" he said. "That's one hell of a thick bunch of canvas, but I follied the seam." 2002, Richard Kilroy O'Malley, Hobo: A Depression Odyssey, →ISBN, page 104:

Forms

folly en · NOUN · etymology 3

Pronunciation

• /ˈfɔlɪj/ (British, Southern, Standard)
• /ˈfɑli/ (General-American)
• /ˈfɒli/ (New-Zealand)
• /ˈfɒli/ (Northern-England, Received-Pronunciation, Wales)
• (US) audio
• /ˈfɔli/ (Australia)
• [ˈfɔ̟li] ~ [ˈfɞ̠li] (New-Zealand)

Etymology

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.

Meanings

1. (qualifier:largely obsolete outside place names) A clump of trees, particularly one on the crest of a hill (or sometimes on a stretch of open ground).
   • During the 1920s and 1930s, Folly Farms (above) [referencing a photograph of a farmhouse surrounded by large trees] was owned by Mrs. Samuel Pennington Rotan of Pennsylvania, who was involved in the effort to improve medical care for the indigent people around Ways Station. … Folly Farms was originally known as Myrtle Grove … 2006, Buddy Sullivan, Richmond Hill, page 52
   • Folly Beach, the next island to the south (batik 3.7), bears the name given it by mariners, who looked for the island's tree-crested dune ridge, a volley or folly of trees, as a navigation guide [...] Probably a lot of East Coast islands bore the temporary name of Folly Beach. 2003, Orrin H. Pilkey, Mary Edna Fraser, A Celebration of the World's Barrier Islands, page 69:
   • 'Every hill seems to have a Folly' [...] 'I mean a clump of trees on the top.' 1880, Richard Jeffries, Greene Ferne Farm, page vi:

Forms