silly

Meaning

Adj

1. Laughable or amusing through foolishness or a foolish appearance.
2. Laughable or amusing through foolishness or a foolish appearance.
3. (Scotland, obsolete) Blessed
4. (Scotland, obsolete) Blessed
5. (Northern-England, Scotland, rare) Pitiful, inspiring compassion, particularly
6. (Northern-England, Scotland, literary, rare) Pitiful, inspiring compassion
7. (Northern-England, Scotland, literary, rare) Pitiful, inspiring compassion
8. (Northern-England, Scotland, rare) Pitiful, inspiring compassion
9. (Northern-England, Scotland, rare) Pitiful, inspiring compassion
10. (Northern-England, Scotland, rare) Pitiful, inspiring compassion
11. (rare) Simple, plain
12. (obsolete, rare) Simple, plain
13. (obsolete) Mentally simple, foolish
14. Mentally simple, foolish
15. (Scotland) Mentally simple, foolish
16. Mentally simple, foolish
17. Very close to the batsman, facing the bowler; closer than short.

Adv

Sillily: in a silly manner.

Noun

1. (colloquial) A silly person.
2. (endearing) A term of address.
3. (colloquial) A mistake.

Synonyms

foolish

stupid

idiotic

dull

fool

absurd

dumb

crazy

senseless

nonsensical

goofy

clumsy

imbecile

idiot

daft

inane

light-headed

mad

simple

giddy

ridiculous

meaningless

ignorant

nonsense

unwise

childish

awkward

empty-headed

sappy

zany

airheaded

insane

inept

lightheaded

wacky

dizzy

💫

dim-witted

half-witted

sheepish

frivolous

simple-minded

featherbrained

obtuse

brainless

addled

simpleton

mindless

negligible

lunatic

ludicrous

Translations

albern

sciocco

tonto

idiot

stupido

stupide

dom

dumm

sot

necio

ridicule

onzinnig

zot

bête

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈsɪli/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: seely

Inherited from Old English: sǣliġ

In summary

From Middle English seely, sēlī, from Old English sǣliġ, ġesǣliġ (“lucky, fortunate”), from Proto-West Germanic *sālīg, from *sāli; equivalent to seel (“happiness, bliss”) + -y. 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”).

Sentences

Silly , of course , but there it is .

He felt silly wearing a tie to the informal gathering .