Silly

• POS: Adjective, Noun
• HYPHEN: sil=ly

CIDE DICTIONARY

Silly, a. [OE. seely, sely, AS. slig, geslig, happy, good, fr. sl, sl, good, happy, sl good fortune, happines; akin to OS. sālig, a, good, happy, D. zalig blessed, G. selig, OHG. sālīg, Icel. sl, Sw. säll, Dan. salig, Goth. sls good, kind, and perh. also to L. sollus whole, entire, Gr. , Skr. sarva. Cf. Seel, n.].

•  Happy; fortunate; blessed.  Chaucer.  [1913 Webster]
•  Harmless; innocent; inoffensive.  Chaucer.  [1913 Webster]

  "The silly virgin strove him to withstand."  [1913 Webster]

  "A silly, innocent hare murdered of a dog."  [1913 Webster]
•  Weak; helpless; frail.  [1913 Webster]

  "After long storms . . .
  With which my silly bark was tossed sore."  [1913 Webster]

  "The silly buckets on the deck."  [1913 Webster]
•  Rustic; plain; simple; humble.  [1913 Webster]

  "A fourth man, in a sillyhabit."  [1913 Webster]

  "All that did their silly thoughts so busy keep."  [1913 Webster]
•  Weak in intellect; destitute of ordinary strength of mind; foolish; witless; simple; as, a silly woman.  [1913 Webster]
•  Proceeding from want of understanding or common judgment; characterized by weakness or folly; unwise; absurd; stupid; as, silly conduct; a silly question.  [1913 Webster]

Syn. -- Simple; brainless; witless; shallow; foolish; unwise; indiscreet. See Simple.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Silly, adj. & n.
--adj. (sillier, silliest)
1 lacking sense; foolish, imprudent, unwise.
2 weak-minded.
3 Cricket (of a fielder or position) very close to the batsman (silly mid-off).
4 archaic innocent, simple, helpless.
--n. (pl. -ies) colloq. a foolish person.

Idiom

silly billy colloq. a foolish person. the silly season high summer as the season when newspapers often publish trivial material for lack of important news.

Derivative

sillily adv. silliness n.

Etymology

later form of ME sely (dial. seely) happy, repr. OE s{aelig}lig (recorded in uns{aelig}lig unhappy) f. Gmc

THESAURUS

Silly

Pickwickian, absurd, airy, apish, asinine, balmy, batty, bedazzled, befooled, beguiled, benumbed, besotted, blockhead, bonehead, booby, brainless, buffoonish, catchpenny, childish, clod, clot, cockeyed, crazy, credulous, daffy, daft, daze, dazed, dazzled, dippy, dizzy, dolt, dope, dopey, doting, drip, dumb, dummy, dunce, empty, empty-headed, fatuitous, fatuous, featherbrained, flaky, flighty, flimsy, fond, fool, foolhardy, foolheaded, foolish, fribble, fribbling, frivolous, frothy, fuddled, futile, gaga, giddy, goofy, goose, groggy, gulled, harebrained, idiot, idiotic, idle, ignoramus, ignorant, illogical, imbecile, imbecilic, in a daze, inane, inept, infatuated, insane, irrational, irresponsible, jackass, jerk, knocked silly, kooky, laughable, light, light-headed, loony, ludicrous, mad, maudlin, mazed, moronic, muzzy, nerd, nincompoop, ninny, nitwit, nitwitted, nonsensical, nugacious, nugatory, numskull, nutty, off, otiose, pointless, poppycockish, preposterous, puerile, punch-drunk, punchy, rattlebrained, ridiculous, risible, rubbishy, sappy, scatterbrained, screwy, senseless, sentimental, shallow, silly Billy, silly ass, simpleton, skimble-skamble, slaphappy, slender, slight, stunned, stupefied, stupid, superficial, thoughtless, trashy, trifling, trite, trivial, twaddling, twaddly, twit, unintelligent, unreasonable, unwise, unwitty, vacuous, vain, vapid, wacky, weak-minded, wet, windy, witless, woozy

ROGET THESAURUS

Silly

Credulity

N credulity, credulousness, cullibility, gullibility, gross credulity, infatuation, self delusion, self deception, superstition, one's blind side, bigotry, hyperorthodoxy, misjudgment, credulous person, credulous, gullible, easily deceived, simple, green, soft, childish, silly, stupid, easily convinced, over-credulous, over confident, over trustful, infatuated, superstitious, confiding, the wish the father to the thought, credo quia impossibile, all is not gold that glitters, no es oro todo lo que reluce, omne ignotum pro magnifico.

Folly

N imbecility folly, want of intelligence &c, want of intellect, shadowness, silliness, foolishness, imbecility, incapacity, vacancy of mind, poverty of intellect, weakness of intellect, clouded perception, poor head, apartments to let, stupidity, stolidity, hebetude, dull understanding, meanest capacity, shortsightedness, incompetence, one's weak side, not one's strong point, bias, infatuation, simplicity, puerility, babyhood, dotage, anility, second childishness, fatuity, idiocy, idiotism, driveling, folly, frivolity, irrationality, trifling, ineptitude, nugacity, inconsistency, lip wisdom, conceit, sophistry, giddiness, eccentricity, extravagance, rashness, act of folly, unintelligent, unintellectual, unreasoning, mindless, witless, reasoningless, brainless, halfbaked, having no head, not bright, inapprehensible, weak headed, addle headed, puzzle headed, blunder headed, muddle headed, muddy headed, pig headed, beetle headed, buffle headed, chuckle headed, mutton headed, maggoty headed, grossheaded, beef headed, fat witted, fat-headed, weak-minded, feeble-minded, dull minded, shallow minded, lack- brained, rattle-brained, rattle headed, half witted, lean witted, short witted, dull witted, blunt-witted, shallow-pated, clod-pated, addle- pated, addle-brained, dim-sighted, short-sighted, thick-skulled, weak in the upper story, shallow, borne, weak, wanting, soft, sappy, spoony, dull, dull as a beetle, stupid, heavy, insulse, obtuse, blunt, stolid, doltish, asinine, inapt, prosaic, hebetudinous, childish, child-like, infantine, infantile, babyish, babish, puerile, anile, simple, old-womanish, fatuous, idiotic, imbecile, driveling, blatant, babbling, vacant, sottish, bewildered, blockish, unteachable Boeotian, Boeotic, bovine, ungifted, undiscerning, unenlightened, unwise, unphilosophical, apish, simious, foolish, silly, senseless, irrational, insensate, nonsensical, inept, maudlin, narrow-minded, bigoted, giddy, rash, eccentric, foolish, unwise, injudicious, improper, unreasonable, without reason, ridiculous, absurd, idiotic, silly, stupid, asinine, ill-imagined, ill-advised, ill-judged, ill-devised, mal entendu, inconsistent, irrational, unphilosophical, extravagant, sleeveless, idle, pointless, useless, inexpedient, frivolous, Davus sum non, a fool's bolt is soon shot clitellae bovi sunt im, fools rush in where angels fear to tread, il n' a ni bouche ni eperon, the bookful blockhead, ignorantly read, to varnish nonsense with the charms of sound, imbecility folly, want of intelligence &c, want of intellect, shadowness, silliness, foolishness, imbecility, incapacity, vacancy of mind, poverty of intellect, weakness of intellect, clouded perception, poor head, apartments to let, stupidity, stolidity, hebetude, dull understanding, meanest capacity, shortsightedness, incompetence, one's weak side, not one's strong point, bias, infatuation, simplicity, puerility, babyhood, dotage, anility, second childishness, fatuity, idiocy, idiotism, driveling, folly, frivolity, irrationality, trifling, ineptitude, nugacity, inconsistency, lip wisdom, conceit, sophistry, giddiness, eccentricity, extravagance, rashness, act of folly, unintelligent, unintellectual, unreasoning, mindless, witless, reasoningless, brainless, halfbaked, having no head, not bright, inapprehensible, weak headed, addle headed, puzzle headed, blunder headed, muddle headed, muddy headed, pig headed, beetle headed, buffle headed, chuckle headed, mutton headed, maggoty headed, grossheaded, beef headed, fat witted, fat-headed, weak-minded, feeble-minded, dull minded, shallow minded, lack- brained, rattle-brained, rattle headed, half witted, lean witted, short witted, dull witted, blunt-witted, shallow-pated, clod-pated, addle- pated, addle-brained, dim-sighted, short-sighted, thick-skulled, weak in the upper story, shallow, borne, weak, wanting, soft, sappy, spoony, dull, dull as a beetle, stupid, heavy, insulse, obtuse, blunt, stolid, doltish, asinine, inapt, prosaic, hebetudinous, childish, child-like, infantine, infantile, babyish, babish, puerile, anile, simple, old-womanish, fatuous, idiotic, imbecile, driveling, blatant, babbling, vacant, sottish, bewildered, blockish, unteachable Boeotian, Boeotic, bovine, ungifted, undiscerning, unenlightened, unwise, unphilosophical, apish, simious, foolish, silly, senseless, irrational, insensate, nonsensical, inept, maudlin, narrow-minded, bigoted, giddy, rash, eccentric, foolish, unwise, injudicious, improper, unreasonable, without reason, ridiculous, absurd, idiotic, silly, stupid, asinine, ill-imagined, ill-advised, ill-judged, ill-devised, mal entendu, inconsistent, irrational, unphilosophical, extravagant, sleeveless, idle, pointless, useless, inexpedient, frivolous, Davus sum non, a fool's bolt is soon shot clitellae bovi sunt im, fools rush in where angels fear to tread, il n' a ni bouche ni eperon, the bookful blockhead, ignorantly read, to varnish nonsense with the charms of sound.

Insanity

N insanity, disordered reason, disordered intellect, diseased mind, unsound mind, abnormal mind, derangement, unsoundness, psychosis, neurosis, cognitive disorder, affective disorder, insanity, lunacy, madness, mania, rabies, furor, mental alienation, aberration, paranoia, schizophrenia, dementation, dementia, demency, phrenitis, phrensy, frenzy, raving, incoherence, wandering, delirium, calenture of the brain, delusion, hallucination, lycanthropy, brain storm, vertigo, dizziness, swimming, sunstroke, coup de soleil, siriasis, fanaticism, infatuation, craze, oddity, eccentricity, twist, monomania (caprice), kleptodipsomania, hypochondriasis, melancholia, depression, clinical depression, severe depression, hysteria, amentia, screw loose, tile loose, slate loose, bee in one's bonnet, rats in the upper story, dotage, insane, mad, lunatic, loony, crazy, crazed, aliene, non compos mentis, not right, cracked, touched, bereft of reason, all possessed, unhinged, unsettled in one's mind, insensate, reasonless, beside oneself, demented, daft, phrenzied, frenzied, frenetic, possessed, possessed with a devil, deranged, maddened, moonstruck, shatterpated, mad-brained, scatter brained, shatter brained, crackbrained, touched, tetched, off one's head, maniacal, delirious, lightheaded, incoherent, rambling, doting, wandering, frantic, raving, stark staring mad, stark raving mad, wild-eyed, berserk, delusional, hallucinatory, corybantic, dithyrambic, rabid, giddy, vertiginous, wild, haggard, mazed, flighty, distracted, distraught, depressed, agitated, hyped up, bewildered, mad as a March hare, mad as a hatter, of unsound mind, touched in one's head, wrong in one's head, not right in one's head, not in one's right mind, not right in one's wits, upper story, out of one's mind, out of one's wits, out of one's skull, far gone, out of one's senses, out of one's wits, not in one's right mind, fanatical, infatuated, odd, eccentric, hypped, hyppish, spaced out, imbecile, silly, like one possessed, the mind having lost its balance, the reason under a cloud, tet exaltee, tet montee, ira furor brevis est, omnes stultos insanire.

Falsehood

N falsehood, falseness, falsity, falsification, deception, untruth, guile, lying, untruth, guile, lying, misrepresentation, mendacity, perjury, false swearing, forgery, invention, fabrication, subreption, covin, perversion of truth, suppression of truth, suppressio veri, perversion, distortion, false coloring, exaggeration, prevarication, equivocation, shuffling, fencing, evasion, fraud, suggestio falsi, mystification, simulation, dissimulation, dissembling, deceit, blague, sham, pretense, pretending, malingering, lip homage, lip service, mouth honor, hollowness, mere show, mere outside, duplicity, double dealing, insincerity, hypocrisy, cant, humbug, jesuitism, jesuitry, pharisaism, Machiavelism, organized hypocrisy, crocodile tears, mealy-mouthedness, quackery, charlatanism, charlatanry, gammon, bun-kum, bumcombe, flam, bam, flimflam, cajolery, flattery, Judas kiss, perfidy, il volto sciolto i pensieri stretti, unfairness, artfulness, misstatement, false, deceitful, mendacious, unveracious, fraudulent, dishonest, faithless, truthless, trothless, unfair, uncandid, hollow-hearted, evasive, uningenuous, disingenuous, hollow, sincere, Parthis mendacior, forsworn, artificial, contrived, canting, hypocritical, jesuitical, pharisaical, tartuffish, Machiavelian, double, double tongued, double faced, double handed, double minded, double hearted, double dealing, Janus faced, smooth-faced, smooth spoken, smooth tongued, plausible, mealy-mouthed, affected, collusive, collusory, artful, perfidious, spurious, untrue, falsified, covinous, falsely, a la tartufe, with a double tongue, silly, blandae mendacia lingua, falsus in uno falsus in omnibus, I give him joy that's awkward at a lie, la mentira tiene las piernas cortas, O what a goodly outside falsehood hath.