sillier

1. 1
   adjective

   Comparative of silly.

   Each new prank the kids invented was sillier than the last.

   The plot grew sillier with every sequel the studio released.

   Note

   Silly compares with the -er ending rather than with more, as most two-syllable adjectives ending in -y do, and its final y turns to i before the suffix. Today the comparative grades foolishness and absurdity: a sillier prank, a sillier hat. The word's old Scottish meanings were 'good', 'pious' and 'holy', and its rare northern sense was the innocent, pitiable lamb. Those meanings sit far from anything a reader now measures with sillier.

2. 2
   adverbdated

   Comparative of sillily. Rare and informal; in a sillier way is usual.

   By the last song, he was dancing even sillier than the kids.

   The puppet flopped about sillier in the second act than in the first.

   Note

   The adverb sillily is itself dated and carries a hypercorrect ring, so the comparative people actually use borrows the adjective's shape and drops the -ly. That makes it identical to the adjective's comparative, and only the verb it modifies shows which one is meant: waved sillier, flopped about sillier. In careful prose, more foolishly avoids both the awkward sillily and an adverb some readers will question.

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