different between foolery vs folly

English

Etymology

From Middle English foleri, ffollery, equivalent to fool +? -ery.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?fu?l??i/

Noun

foolery (countable and uncountable, plural fooleries)

1. Foolish behaviour or speech.
   • c. 1601, William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, Act III, Scene 1, [1]

     Foolery, sir, does walk about the orb like the sun, it shines every where.

   • 1910, John Millington Synge, Deirdre of the Sorrows, in Plays by John M. Synge, London: George Allen & Unwin, 1910, Act I, p. 319, [3]

     Though you think, maybe, young men can do their fill of foolery and there is none to blame them.

   • 1949, George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four, Part Two, Chapter 1, [4]

     He […] hurried off to the Centre, took part in the solemn foolery of a 'discussion group' […]

Synonyms

• foolishness

Derived terms

• April foolery
• tomfoolery

Translations

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?f?li/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?f?li/
• Rhymes: -?li
• Hyphenation: fol?ly

Noun

folly (plural follies)

1. Foolishness that results from a lack of foresight or lack of practicality.

2. Thoughtless action resulting in tragic consequence.

3. (architecture) A fanciful building built for purely ornamental reasons.

Related terms

• fool
• foolery
• foolish

Translations

Further reading

• folly on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• folyl