folly

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   Foolish behaviour that shows a lack of good sense.

   It would be folly to walk all that way when the shops are already shut.

2. 2
   noun

   A foolish act or mistake, often with serious consequences.

   The purchase of Alaska was once called Seward's folly.

Uncertain. The most common theory is that term primarily denotes a clump of trees and relates to French feuille, feuillée and English foliage; it has also been suggested that it refers to some perceived connection or resemblance of the named place to an architectural folly, but many places so named have no architectural follies and cannot be named directly for them.

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