silly

silly

adjective

Definition of SILLY

1

lacking in seriousness or maturity <the matinee show was filled with a bunch of silly children making noise>

Synonyms birdbrained, ditzy (or ditsy), dizzy, featherbrained, flighty, frivolous, frothy, futile, goofy, harebrained, light-headed, light-minded, puerile, scatterbrained, silly, yeasty

Related Words fatuous, foolish, inane, nonsensical, thoughtless, witless; crazy, daffy, daft, fruity; exuberant, flippant, fluttery, giggly, happy, light, lighthearted, playful; sappy, shallow, superficial

Near Antonyms grave, melancholy, somber (or sombre), thoughtful; dignified, heavy, no-nonsense, sedate, severe, solemn, staid

Antonyms earnest, serious, serious-minded, sober, unfrivolous

2

showing or marked by a lack of good sense or judgment <those silly movie producers who thought that audiences would fall for that gimmick all over again>

Synonyms absurd, asinine, balmy, brainless, bubbleheaded, cockeyed, crackpot, crazy, cuckoo, daffy, daft, dippy, dotty, fatuous, featherheaded, fool, half-baked, harebrained, half-witted, inept, insane, jerky, kooky (also kookie), loony (also looney), lunatic, lunkheaded, mad, nonsensical, nutty, preposterous, sappy, screwball, senseless, silly, simpleminded, stupid, tomfool, unwise, wacky (also whacky), weak-minded, witless, zany

Related Words airheaded, birdbrained, boobish, brain-dead, chowderheaded, chuckleheaded, clueless, dense, dim, dim-witted, doltish, dopey (also dopy), dorky [slang], dull, dumb, dunderheaded, empty-headed, fatuous, feebleminded, gormless [chiefly British], idiotic (also idiotical), imbecile (or imbecilic), knuckleheaded, lamebrain (or lamebrained), mindless, moronic, oafish, obtuse, opaque, pinheaded, simple, slow, slow-witted, soft, softheaded, thoughtless, thick, thickheaded, unintelligent, vacuous, witless; fallacious, illogical, invalid, irrational, nonrational, surd, unreasonable, unreasoning, unsound, weak; farcical, laughable, ludicrous, ridiculous; notional; buffoonish, clownish; ill-advised, unconsidered, unreasoned

Near Antonyms brainy, bright, clever, intelligent, smart; logical, rational, reasonable, valid; well-advised

Antonyms judicious, prudent, sagacious, sage, sane, sapient, sensible, sound, wise

3

so foolish or pointless as to be worthy of scornful laughter <had the silly notion that her latest marriage might last longer than her three previous ones>

Synonyms absurd, cockamamy (or cockamamie), comical, derisive, derisory, farcical, laughable, ludicrous, pathetic, preposterous, risible, silly

Related Words asinine, brainless, dumb, fatuous, foolish, half-baked, half-witted, harebrained, idiotic (also idiotical), imbecile (or imbecilic), inane, jerky, moronic, nonsensical, simpleminded, stupid, unwise, weak-minded, witless; balmy, cockeyed, crazy, cuckoo, daffy, daft, dotty, insane, kooky (also kookie), loony (also looney), lunatic, mad, nutty, screwball, senseless, wacky (also whacky); fantastic (also fantastical), far-fetched, inconceivable, incredible, unbelievable, unreal, unrealistic, unreasonable; illogical, irrational

Near Antonyms earnest, serious, solemn; believable, conceivable, credible, logical, rational, realistic, reasonable, sensible

4

suffering from mental confusion <stunning news that knocked me silly>

Synonyms addle, addled, addlepated, bedeviled, befogged, befuddled, bemused, bewildered, bushed [chiefly Australian], confounded, confused, dazed, distracted, dopey (also dopy), fogged, mixed-up, muddleheaded, muzzy, pixilated (also pixillated), punch-drunk, punchy, raddled, shell-shocked, silly, slaphappy, spaced-out (or spaced), spacey (also spacy), stunned, stupefied, zonked, zonked-out

Related Words senseless, unconscious

Near Antonyms alert, conscious

Antonyms clearheaded, unconfused