sillies
- 1Plural of silly.
Her younger cousins were absolute sillies all through the wedding reception.
Two sillies in the back row kept pulling faces during the lecture.
Note
A regular plural, with -y turning to -ies as in ponies or berries. It serves every noun use of silly: a pair of sillies can be two foolish people or two small mistakes. Because the singular is also an endearing term of address, the plural works affectionately too (come on, you sillies). Add the article and the meaning shifts to a fit of giddiness.
- 2A period of foolish, giddy behavior, often when someone simply cannot stay serious.
Halfway through the ceremony she caught the sillies and had to look away to compose herself.
A fit of the sillies swept the room when the speaker mangled the mayor's name.
Similargiggles
Note
An idiom that only lives with the article: people get, catch or have the sillies. It usually sits inside a noun of seizure, such as a fit, a bout or an attack of the sillies, which treats giddiness like a passing illness. Peter Gronn, in The New Work of Educational Leaders (2003), finds it even in committee meetings, where members play the fool and horse around.
sillies is a form of silly
silly, noun: A foolish person, especially one who is being playful rather than truly unwise; often used affectionately as a teasing form of address. Full entry
- Forms
- sillysillies plural
- Spelling
- silly → sillies: change y to i, add -es
- Sound
- The ending sounds like /z/.
Use it in a sentence
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