folly

«folly» in Mova's school dictionary: Foolishness; a very silly or unwise act or idea — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (folly, follies)

meaning for a pupil

1) Foolishness; a very silly or unwise act or idea. tree →

2) A strange decorative building, like a fake ruin or a tower, built in a big park or garden just for show. tree →

3) (follies, plural) A show with dancing, songs and jokes (old theatre word). tree →

sense in the lessons

In The Wind in the Willows the Badger and Rat try to save Toad from his folly with motor cars. In stories, «the folly of greed» is a lesson. On country walks in Britain and Ireland you may see a folly tower on a hill. Phrases: «sheer folly», «the height of folly», «it would be folly to…».

examples

• It would be folly to swim in the sea during a storm. tree →
• Toad's folly with cars cost him a fortune. tree →
• There is a stone folly at the top of the hill. tree →
• Running away was sheer folly. tree →
• The rich lord built a folly that looked like a castle ruin. tree →
• Grandad says buying that old boat was his greatest folly. tree →
• Why do you persist in this folly? tree →

note

Plural: follies. Uncountable in the meaning «foolishness». Related word: fool, foolish.

In the corpora

• And it wasn't folly at all!
• O God, Thou knowest my folly; and my trespasses are not hid from Thee.
• He shall die for lack of instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall reel.
• The woman Folly is riotous; she is thoughtless, and knoweth nothing.
• Every prudent man dealeth with forethought; but a fool unfoldeth folly.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «folly» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.