|
|
sil·ly
 silly
- pronunciation:
- sI
li
- features:
- Word History, Word Explorer
| part of speech: |
adjective |
| inflections: |
sillier, silliest |
| definition 1: |
lacking good sense; foolish.
a silly person- synonyms:
- daft, dumb, empty-headed, foolish, idiotic, senseless, witless
- antonyms:
- sensible
- similar words:
- asinine, crazy, dizzy, flighty, fool, imbecile, imprudent, inept, mindless, puerile, ridiculous, stupid
|
| definition 2: |
not serious or rational; frivolous.
a silly notion- synonyms:
- frivolous, giddy, inane, nonsensical
- antonyms:
- important, staid
- similar words:
- absurd, cockamamie, crackbrained, dizzy, flighty, goofy, loony, preposterous, ridiculous
|
| definition 3: |
(informal) dazed.
The blow knocked him silly.- synonyms:
- dazed, stunned
- similar words:
- dizzy, stupid
|
| related words: |
childish, credulous, foolish, laughable, playful, senseless, trifling, vain, zany |
| derivations: |
sillily (adv.), silliness (n.) |
The meaning of silly has changed many times over the centuries. In the 1200s, it meant "happy, fortunate, or holy." It then came to mean "innocent," and then "helpless or weak." By the 1500s, it was used to mean "simple, ignorant, or foolish."
|
|