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foolhardiness

US/ˈfulˌhɑɹ.di.nəs/
nounC2Very rare — outside the 30,000 commonest English words, so you will meet it in writing rather than in speechneutral

Foolhardiness is bold action taken without weighing the danger. Sheer foolhardiness.

It is the word used when the same act would be courage if it had worked. Foolhardiness and bravery are separated entirely by the outcome and by who is describing it.

Definitions of foolhardiness

  1. 1nounfoolhardinessBold action taken without weighing the danger.C2

    “The foolhardiness of it only became clear afterwards.”

foolhardiness is a quality.

Where it comes from

From foolhardy, fool plus hardy in the old sense of bold; the pairing is medieval.

  1. Middle English

    foolhardynesse

  2. English, today

    foolhardiness

From Middle English foolhardynesse; equivalent to foolhardy + -ness.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

foolhardiness in the wild

  • Pride may also be used to refer to foolhardiness, or an unearned, irrational sense of one's personal value, status, or accomplishments.

    Pride

  • The contemporary historian Niketas Choniates describes him as a brave, audacious and experienced soldier but frequently led astray by his foolhardiness and presumption.

    John Kantakouzenos (Caesar)

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.