# folly

Pronunciation: say "FOL-ee" US /ˈfɑli/, UK /ˈfɒli/

## Noun

1. Lack of good sense or foresight, or a foolish act or idea, especially one with harmful results.
   - Simple: Foolish behavior, or a foolish act or idea that can lead to trouble.
   - _It would be folly to set out across the desert without extra water._
   - _He looked back on the follies of his twenties with a mix of embarrassment and amusement._
2. A fanciful building put up purely as an ornament rather than for any practical use.
   - Simple: A fancy building made only for decoration, not to be used.
   - _The estate's gardens include a mock-Gothic folly built to look like a ruined chapel._
   - _Walkers climb the ridge to see the folly, a tower that was never meant to be lived in._

## Other meanings

- (noun) A clump of trees, especially one on the crest of a hill or, less often, on open ground.
- (verb) To follow: to go after someone or something, or to keep to a path or line.

## Origin

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

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/folly (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).