• (America) IPA: /ˈfɑli/
• (RP) IPA: /ˈfɒli/

folly

1. Foolishness that results from a lack of foresight or lack of practicality.

   It would be folly to walk all that way, knowing the shops are probably shut by now.

2. Thoughtless action resulting in tragic consequence.

   The purchase of Alaska from Russia was termed Seward's folly.

3. (architecture) A fanciful building built for purely ornamental reasons.

   A luncheonette in the shape of a coffee cup is particularly conspicuous, as is intended of an architectural duck or folly.

   • 1984, William Gibson, chapter 14, in Neuromancer (Sprawl; book 1), New York, N.Y.: Ace Books, →ISBN, page 172 ↗:

     “The Villa Straylight,” said a jeweled thing on the pedestal, in a voice like music, “is a body grown in upon itself, a Gothic folly. […] ”

• fool
• foolery
• foolish

• French: folie, sottise
• German: Torheit, Narrheit, Dummheit, Tollheit, Aberwitz, Verrücktheit
• Italian: follia, stravaganza
• Portuguese: bobeira
• Russian: глу́пость

• German: Fahrlässigkeit, Eselei, Unsinn, Verrücktheit, Wahnwitz
• Russian: безрассу́дство

• French: folie
• German: Zierbau, Prunkbau
• Italian: stravaganza, unicum, eccentricità, edificio decorativo
• Spanish: capricho

folly (follies, present participle follying; simple past and past participle follied)

1. (dialectal) To follow.
   • 1957, Jack Kerouac, On the Road, Penguin, published 1976, →OCLC ↗, page 23 ↗:

     "You got any money?" he said to me. ¶ "Hell no, maybe enough for a pint of whisky till I get to Denver. What about you?" ¶ "I know where I can get some." ¶ "Where?" "Anywhere. You can always folly a man down an alley, can't you?"