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silliness

UK/ˈsɪlinɪs/US/ˈsɪlinɪs/
nounB1+Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #11,223 of 15,258neutral

Silliness is behaviour that shows no sense, usually harmlessly. A moment of silliness.

It is affectionate where foolishness is not, which is the whole difference. The word silly once meant blessed and then innocent before it meant anything like this.

KPU · Public domain

Definitions of silliness

  1. 1nounsillinessBehaviour that shows no sense, usually harmlessly.B1+

    “The silliness on the last day of term was expected by everybody.”

silliness is a behaviour.

Where it comes from

  1. Proto-West Germanic

    *sālīg

  2. Old English

    sǣliġ

  3. Middle English

    seely

  4. English

    silly

  5. English, today

    silliness

Built from

  • ġesǣliġ · Old English — lucky, fortunate

From silly + -ness. silly comes from Middle English seely, seli, from Old English sǣliġ, ġesǣliġ (“lucky, fortunate”), from Proto-West Germanic sālīg, from sāli; equivalent to seel + -y. a doublet of Seelie. The semantic evolution is “lucky” to “innocent” to “naive” to “foolish”. Compare the similar evolution of daft (originally meaning “accommodating”), and almost the reverse with nice (originally meaning “ignorant”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

silliness in the wild

  • Among Orthodox Jews, "shtick" can also refer to wedding shtick, in which wedding guests entertain the newlyweds through dancing, costumes, juggling, and silliness.

    Shtick

  • The show follows the kind of silliness from sketch comedy shows like Monty Python's Flying Circus and The Kids in the Hall.

    The Hollow Men (comedy troupe)

  • In television, film, and the circus, portrayals of silliness such as exaggerated, funny behavior are used to amuse audiences.

    Silliness

  • Portrayals of silliness, provided by clowns and jesters, are also used to lift the spirits of people in hospitals.

    Silliness

  • Michael Palin appeared in this film just as he was establishing his post-Monty Python career, and the film has "glints of Python-like silliness throughout".

    Three Men in a Boat (1975 film)

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.

Related words

the sǣliġ family

silly

silliness — used about once every 8,182 pages · #11,223 · point at the bar for the others