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silly

sil·ly

silly

 
 
pronunciation:
sI li
features:
Word Combinations (adjective), Word History, Word Explorer
part of speech: adjective
inflections: sillier, silliest
definition 1: lacking good sense; foolish.
I admit I was a bit silly when I was young, but I've become much wiser.It seemed like a silly idea at first, but later we saw that it was the only practical solution to the problem.It's silly to drive there when it's just a few blocks away.
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.
Our uncle was always doing silly things to make us laugh when we were children.Stop making those silly faces and eat your dinner.
synonyms:
crazy, 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
Word CombinationsSubscriber feature About this feature
derivations: sillily (adv.), silliness (n.)
Word History
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."
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  character, personality