Foolish — Meaning, Definition & Synonyms

Foolish (adjective) — Senses, Synonyms & Antonyms

1. showing or marked by a lack of good sense or judgment

   "foolish people who thought that the world would end in the year 2000"

   "a foolish scheme that was supposed to make us all rich"

   similar: absurd, asinine, balmy, barmy (chiefly British), batty, brainless, bubbleheaded, cockeyed, crackpot, crackbrained, crazy, cuckoo, daffy, daft, dippy, dotty, fatuous, featherheaded, fool, fruity (slang), gaga, half-baked, harebrained, half-witted, inept, insane, jerky, kooky, loony, loony tunes, lunatic (informal), lunkheaded, mad, meshuga, nonsensical, nutty, preposterous, sappy, screwball, senseless, silly, simpleminded, stupid, tomfool, unwise, wacko, wacky, weak-minded, witless, zany, out to lunch
   related: airheaded, birdbrained, boobish, brain-dead, chowderheaded, chuckleheaded, clueless, dense, dim, dim-witted, doltish, dopey, dorky (slang), dull, dumb, dunderheaded, empty-headed, feebleminded, gormless (chiefly British), idiotic, imbecile, knuckleheaded, lamebrain, mindless, moronic, oafish, obtuse, opaque, pinheaded, simple, slow, slow-witted, soft, softheaded, thoughtless, thick, thickheaded, unintelligent, vacuous, fallacious, illogical, invalid, irrational, nonrational, surd, unreasonable, unreasoning, unsound, weak, farcical, laughable, ludicrous, ridiculous, notional, buffoonish, clownish, ill-advised, unconsidered, unreasoned
   opposite: judicious, prudent, sagacious, sage, sane, sapient, sensible, sound, wise
   near: brainy, bright, clever, intelligent, smart, logical, rational, reasonable, valid, well-advised

2. conceived or made without regard for reason or reality

   "foolish attempts to construct a perpetual motion machine"

   similar: absurd, bizarre, crazy, fanciful, fantastic, insane, nonsensical, preposterous, unreal, wild, off the wall (slang)
   related: implausible, inconceivable, incredible, unbelievable, unimaginable, unthinkable, extravagant, grotesque, bizarro, curious, eccentric, far-out, funny, kinky, kooky, odd, outlandish, out-of-the-way, outré, peculiar, quaint, queer, queerish, quirky, screwy, strange, wacky, way-out, weird, farcical, laughable, ludicrous, ridiculous, Alice-in-Wonderland, Kafkaesque, nightmarish, dreamlike, surreal
   opposite: realistic, reasonable

3. lacking importance

   "the current regulations are cluttered with foolish details that are unnecessarily burdensome"

   similar: fiddling, frivolous, incidental, inconsequential, inconsiderable, insignificant, little, Mickey Mouse, minor, minute, negligible, nugatory, slight, small, small-fry, trifling, trivial, unimportant, neither here nor there
   related: jerkwater, one-horse, nickel-and-dime, paltry, petty, small-time, worthless, anonymous, nameless, obscure, uncelebrated, unknown
   opposite: big, consequential, eventful, important, major, material, meaningful, momentous, significant, substantial, unfrivolous, weighty
   near: decisive, fatal, fateful, chief, dominant, overbearing, overmastering, overriding, principal, distinctive, exceptional, impressive, outstanding, prominent, remarkable, valuable, worthwhile, worthy, distinguished, eminent, great, illustrious, preeminent, prestigious, famous, notorious, renowned, all-important, basic, essential, fundamental, key