The word silly means - Word и Excel - помощь в работе с программами

Top Definitions
Synonyms
Quiz
Related Content
When To Use
More About Silly
Examples
British

This shows grade level based on the word’s complexity.

adjective, sil·li·er, sil·li·est.

weak-minded or lacking good sense; stupid or foolish: a silly writer.

humorous and playful in a clownish, whimsical, or exaggerated way; showing unrestrained high spirits: With a few April Fools’ Day tricks, students have a respite from seriousness and get to just be silly and laugh.

Cricket. (of a fielder or the fielder’s playing position) extremely close to the batsman’s wicket: silly mid off.

Archaic. rustic; plain; homely.

Archaic. weak; helpless.

Obsolete. lowly in rank or state; humble.

noun, plural sil·lies.

Informal. a silly or foolish person: Don’t be such a silly.

VIDEO FOR SILLY

Is «Silly» A Positive Or Negative Word?

Silly means «weak-minded or lacking good sense; stupid or foolish: a silly writer,» or «absurd; ridiculous; irrational: a silly idea,» or «stunned; dazed.» But, did it always mean these things? Why does everyone think it’s such an endearing word?

Origin of silly

First recorded in 1375–1425; earlier sylie, sillie “foolish, feeble-minded, simple, pitiful”; late Middle English syly, variant of sely seely

OTHER WORDS FROM silly

sil·li·ly, adverbsil·li·ness, nounun·sil·ly, adjective

Words nearby silly

Silliman, sillimanite, silliness, Sillitoe, Sills, silly, silly billy, Silly Putty, silly season, silly-sider, sillyweed

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

WHEN TO USE

What are other ways to say silly?

The adjective silly describes behavior or people that lack good sense, or things that are absurd or irrational. Do you know when to use silly, fatuous, foolish, inane, stupid, and asinine? Find out on Thesaurus.com.

MORE ABOUT SILLY

Where does silly come from?

You have probably heard someone say that language is constantly changing. We are definitely guilty of saying that here at Dictionary.com. But what does that mean exactly? Well, the story of the word silly is one clear—and fascinating—illustration.

Languages change in many ways. The sounds and forms of a language can morph. The underlying structures of a language can shift. New words are created. Old words die out. And as we see in the case of silly, the meaning of words can develop in some remarkable ways.

Today, we generally use the word silly to describe something as “foolish.” Something silly can be amusing, as when kids make silly faces or play silly games. Something silly can also be, more dismissively, stupid. For example: The politician’s promises were nothing but silly pipedreams.

But care to guess what the original sense of silly was? “Blessed.” We’re not being silly. Among the oldest recorded senses of silly—or, more accurately, the word that became our modern word silly—was “spiritually blessed.” Those senses are recorded in the early 1200s. So how did we get to “foolish”?

Dig deeper

Silly ultimately comes from the Old English (c.450–c1150) word gesǣlig, meaning “happy, blessed.” Talk about language change! Let’s break this gesǣlig down. That ge- is an Old English prefix that was effectively lost. That –ig became –y, which is all over English today, as in juicy or dreamy. And sǣl meant “happiness.”

During Middle English (c1150–1475), this gesǣlig developed into new forms (see our entry at the archaic word seely) and many new senses. The word acquired the senses of “holy, innocent, helpless,” then “pitiable” and “insignificant,” then “simple” and “ignorant.” By the mid- to late 1500s, silly had gained the meaning of “lacking good sense, foolish, irrational, ridiculous.”

It’s hard to say why, exactly, but there may be something of a through-line in the incredible sense development of silly. Something “happy” can be considered “favored by God.” Something “favored by God” can be considered “holy,” and so “innocent,” which may be said of a small animal or child who is “harmless” or “defenseless.” (Are you following us so far?) And if you can’t protect yourself or you lack power, you might be considered “worthless” or “miserable”—and so silly apparently jumps to “foolish.”

Did you know … ?

Like silly, many other familiar words don’t mean today what they meant centuries ago. Explore the origins of the following words for some more amazing examples of change in the English language:

awful (literally “full of awe”)
bully (originally meaning “sweetheart”)
nice (“stupid” in Middle English)

Still having a hard time believing all these changes? Look to slang, which often flips something negative into a positive, as in bad or sick (“excellent”). Also consider all the ways digital technology has radically expanded the original meanings of words, such as tweet and viral.

Words related to silly

childish, crazy, frivolous, idiotic, inappropriate, irresponsible, ludicrous, nonsensical, pointless, preposterous, ridiculous, simple, stupid, empty, irrational, asinine, balmy, brainless, dippy, dizzy

How to use silly in a sentence

Claiming that people with protruding ears were naturally weak-willed, for example, would seem plain silly.
Well, back in the early 1200s, the original sense of silly was “blessed” or, more accurately, “spiritually blessed.”
That may sound a bit silly, but often we’re in a culture where people think a scientist or mathematician has to be the crazy person locked up in a room working by ourselves.
Sometimes my friends ask questions that they’re afraid are silly.

I suspect when we look back in 100 years, or maybe even 50 years, we’ll be astonished at how silly many of the ideas we currently hold near and dear to our hearts are actually wrong.
Forget those silly “games played with the ball”; they are far “too violent for the body and stamp no character on the mind.”
Aside from reaching an international audience, leaving Oz had another benefit—no more silly intrusions into her privacy.
It is loathed by some critics who find it patronizing, silly, and superficial.
So, happy 20th birthday to this proudly silly fashion classic.
It was sexy, silly, and—in those relatively modest times—sensational.
If he would take her a little more seriously—it ‘s an immense pity he married her because she was silly!
I wonder why wise men choose silly wives always, she added consciously, playing with the reins.
I just sit there, knocked plumb silly, almost, and looked at a big rose in the carpet.
Not only good taste, but health is often sacrificed to the silly error of dressing in the extreme of fashion.
Think of carelessly carrying a hundred dollars in a silly purse like that!

British Dictionary definitions for silly

adjective -lier or -liest

lacking in good sense; absurd

frivolous, trivial, or superficial

feeble-minded

dazed, as from a blow

obsolete homely or humble

noun

(modifier) cricket (of a fielding position) near the batsman’s wicketsilly mid-on

Also called: silly-billy plural -lies informal a foolish person

Derived forms of silly

silliness, noun

Word Origin for silly

C15 (in the sense: pitiable, hence the later senses: foolish): from Old English sǣlig (unattested) happy, from sǣl happiness; related to Gothic sēls good

Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Источник

A word often used in a flirty manner or as a substitute for a more serious gesture such as love. Saying «you’re so silly» can be used as a substitute to stop yourself from saying «I love you» too early or saying it when both people are not there yet.

Get the Silly mug.

Silly is a nickname given to someone who looooves to spill tea and start beef. Silly is also another name for a horse who has disabilities. Being called silly can also mean you are just a freak of nature or failure you will never know.

Silly, quit starting beef with everyone.

Once again silly spilled the tea.

Hey quit being a sellout silly.

Oh nahhhh there’s that boi silly.

Get the Silly mug.

Next ›
Last »

Источник

Adjective

I hope I didn’t make any silly mistakes.

The idea does seem a bit silly.

That’s the silliest thing I’ve ever heard.

You drove in this weather? What a silly thing to do!

Silly me. I locked myself out of the car again.

Ask a silly question, and you get a silly answer.

“I can’t ask you to do that.” “Don’t be silly. It is my pleasure.”

What a silly little purse. It looks too small to hold everything that I’d need to carry.

I’m tired of watching silly movies.

The book was a silly waste of time.

Recent Examples on the Web

Yet what could play like some cutthroat dark comedy, a Christopher Guest-like satire or merely a broadly silly lark never really settles on a tone.

—Brian Lowry, CNN, 6 Apr. 2023

But yes, national writers and fans poked fun at the Brewers for staging a seemingly silly exercise.

—Jr Radcliffe, Journal Sentinel, 4 Apr. 2023

Some disagreements are silly.

—Maxwell Rabb, Anchorage Daily News, 3 Apr. 2023

The video, starring Silverman and Damon, featured a silly original song that exposed Silverman’s (fake) affair with the Good Will Hunting actor.

—Skyler Caruso, Peoplemag, 3 Apr. 2023

The universal cheers for Cody Rhodes’ is something WWE has not experienced with its top babyface in multiple generations, so to throw that away for a number seems silly.

—Alfred Konuwa, Forbes, 2 Apr. 2023

Lenny know when you’re done with these silly April Fools’ Day jokes.

—Jamie Ballard, Country Living, 31 Mar. 2023

Some disagreements are silly.

—Maxwell Rabb, Washington Post, 30 Mar. 2023

Some of the acts of imagination that we were called to undertake seemed too silly.

—Rivka Galchen, The New Yorker, 6 Mar. 2023

Caring about something so silly felt good.

—Kate Knibbs, Wired, 22 Dec. 2020

On the other hand, silly dare ideas are bound to provide endless laughter while tightening your bond.

—Leah Campano, Seventeen, 23 Mar. 2023

The Everything Everywhere All at Once co-stars won their Supporting Actor awards at the top of the show, so the two reliably high-energy awards-season presences were able to go full silly Billy for the rest of the night.

—Vulture, 13 Mar. 2023

To be fair, the story is largely about the insular and silly-sounding vocabulary of designers.

—Chris Klimek, Smithsonian Magazine, 22 Dec. 2022

The film is a sensory smorgasbord, the scuba diving adventure of your dreams, especially when seen on a massive screen in 3D with huge speakers, and would be downright silly viewed on a smartphone.

—Marco Della Cava, USA TODAY, 16 Dec. 2022

Like most shotgun weddings of horror cinema and rock, however, this one ends up silly rather than scary.

—Dennis Harvey, Variety, 15 Sep. 2022

The trade tussle is silly given the countries’ proximity to and reliance on one another.

—Brendan Ahern, Forbes, 7 May 2021

Now Athie and Rashad both deliver committed performances of the pulpy material, almost good enough to excuse the movie’s silly-looking special effects and patchy writing.

—Kate Knibbs, Wired, 6 Oct. 2020

See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word ‘silly.’ Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Источник

English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English seely, sēlī,^[1] 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” → “innocent” → “naïve” → “foolish”. Compare the similar evolution of daft (originally meaning “accommodating”), and almost the reverse with nice (originally meaning “ignorant”).

Pronunciation[edit]

IPA^(key): /ˈsɪli/
Rhymes: -ɪli
Homophone: Scilly

Adjective[edit]

silly (comparative sillier, superlative silliest)

Laughable or amusing through foolishness or a foolish appearance.
- c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i], line 209:
  
  This is the silliest stuffe, that euer I heard.
- 1970, Graham Chapman & al., Monty Python’s Flying Circus, I, 183:
  
  Well sir, I have a silly walk and I’d like to obtain a Government grant to help me develop it.
1. (of numbers, particularly prices) Absurdly large.
  - 1875 June 26, Saturday Review, 815/2:
    
    He cannot achieve celebrity by covering himself with diamonds… or by giving a silly price for a hack.
(chiefly Scotland, obsolete) Blessed, particularly:
1. Good; pious.
  - a. 1450, Seven Sages, line 1361:
    
    The sylyman lay and herde,
    And hys wyf answerd.
2. Holy.
  - 1650 in 1885, W. Cramond, Church of Rathven, 21:
    
    … thrie Saturdayes befor Lambas and thrie efter called the six silie Saturdayes.
(now chiefly Scotland and Northern England, rare) Pitiful, inspiring compassion, particularly:
- 1556 in 1880, William Henry Turner, Selections from the Records of the City of Oxford… 1509–83, 246:
  
  The fire raging upon the silly Carcase.
- 1808, John Jamieson, An Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language:
  
  Silly… in the same sense as E. poor is often used, denoting a state which excites compassion.
1. (now literary) Innocent; suffering undeservedly, especially as an epithet of lambs and sheep.
  - a. 1475, in 1925, Rossell Hope Robbins, Secular Lyrics of the 14th & 15th Centuries, 109:
    
    There is no best in þe word, I wene…
    That suffuris halfe so myche tene
    As doth þe sylly wat.
  - a. 1513, William Dunbar, Poems, 247:
    
    In the silly lambis skin He crap als far as he micht win.
2. (now literary) Helpless, defenseless.
  
  scared silly
  - 1539, Richard Morison translating Juan Luis Vives, Introduction to Wysedome:
    
    Wherfore Christe must soo moche the more instantelye be sought vpon, that he may vouchsafe to defende vs sylly wretches.
  - c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], part 1, 2nd edition, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene ii:
    
    Ah Shepheard, pity my diſtreſſed plight,
    (If as thou ſeem’ſt, thou art ſo meane a man)
    And ſeeke not to inrich thy followers,
    By lawleſſe rapine from a ſilly maide, […]
  - 1665, Thomas Manley translating Hugo Grotius, De Rebus Belgicis, 938:
    
    There remained fresh Examples of their Barbarism against weak Sea-men, and silly Fisher-men.
3. Insignificant, worthless, (chiefly Scotland) especially with regard to land quality.
  - a. 1500, Robert Henryson translating Aesop, «Two Mice»:
    
    Ane sillie scheill vnder ane erdfast stane
  - c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii], line 93:
    
    […] A pettigree
    Of threescore and two yeares a sillie time,
    To make prescription for a kingdomes worth.
  - 1907, Transactions of the Highland & Agricultural Society, 19, 172:
    
    It is naturally very poor, ‘silly’ land.
4. Weak, frail; flimsy (use concerning people and animals is now obsolete).
  - 1567, John Maplet, A Greene Forest:
    
    Here we see that a smal sillie Bird knoweth how to match with so great a Beast.
  - 1587, Philip Sidney & al. translating Philippe de Mornay, A Woorke Concerning the Trewnesse of the Christian Religion, xxxii, 596:
    
    [Christ] leaueth neither Children nor kinsfolke behind him to vphold his sillie kingdome.
  - 1946 in 1971, Scottish National Dictionary, Vol. VIII, 234/3:
    
    That’ll never grow. It’s ower silly.
5. Sickly; feeble; infirm.
  - 1636, Alexander Montgomerie, The Cherrie & the Slae, line 1512:
    
    To doe the thing we can
    To please…
    This silly sickly man.
  - 1818, Walter Scott, «Heart of Mid-Lothian», v:
    
    Is there ony thing you would particularly fancy, as your health seems but silly?
(now rural UK, rare) Simple, plain, particularly:
1. Rustic, homely.
  - 1570, John Foxe, Actes & Monumentes, Vol. II, 926/1:
    
    Dauid had no more but a sylie slynge, and a few stones.
2. (obsolete) Lowly, of humble station.
  - a. 1547, the Earl of Surrey translating Publius Virgilius Maro, Certain Bokes of Virgiles Aeneis, Book II:
    
    The silly herdman all astonnied standes.
  - 1568, Alexander Scott, Poems, 27:
    
    So luvaris lair no leid suld lak,
    A lord to lufe a silly lass.
Mentally simple, foolish, particularly:
1. (obsolete) Rustic, uneducated, unlearned.
  - 1687, Archibald Lovell translating Jean de Thévenot, The Travels of Monsieur de Thevenot into the Levant, i, 2:
    
    From Hell (of which the silly people of the Country think the top of this hill to be the mouth).
2. Thoughtless, lacking judgment.
  - 1576, Abraham Fleming translating Sulpicius, A Panoplie of Epistles, 24:
    
    Wee sillie soules, take the matter too too heauily.
  - 1841, Charles Dickens, Barnaby Rudge, iii, 252:
    
    ‘Heaven help this silly fellow,’ murmured the perplexed locksmith.
  - 1972, George Lucas & al., American Graffiti, 8:
    
    Steve, don’t be silly. I mean social intercourse.
  - 1990, House of Cards, Season 1, Episode 3:
    
    Framed? Framed? Oh, grow up, Mattie. The truth is that everyone is sillier than you could possibly imagine they’d be. What a dickhead.
3. (Scotland) Mentally retarded.
  - 1568, Christis Kirk on Grene:
    
    Fow ȝellow ȝellow wes hir heid bot scho of lufe wes sillie.
  - 1814, Walter Scott, Waverley, III, xvi, 237:
    
    Davie’s no just like other folk… but he’s no sae silly as folk tak him for.
4. Stupefied, senseless; stunned or dazed.
  - 1829 January 17, Lancaster Gazette:
    
    You say you were knocked silly—was that so?
  - 1907, John Millington Synge, Playboy of the Western World, iii, 64:
    
    Drinking myself silly…
  - 1942, J. Chodorov & al., Junior Miss, ii, i, 113:
    
    Well, Judy, now that you’ve scared me silly, what’s so important?
  - 1990, House of Cards, Season 1, Episode 2:
    
    I can kick this stuff any time I like. I tell you what. Get this week over, we’ll go to a health farm for ten days. No drugs. No drink. And shag ourselves silly. How about that?
(cricket, of a fielding position) Very close to the batsman, facing the bowler; closer than short.
- 1862 July 4, Notts. Guardian:
  
  Carpenter now placed himself at silly-point for Grundy, who was playing very forward.

Usage notes[edit]

Silly is usually taken to imply a less serious degree of foolishness, mental impairment, or hilarity than its synonyms.

The sense meaning stupefied is usually restricted to times when silly is used as a verb complement, denoting that the action is done so severely or repetitively that it leaves one senseless.

Synonyms[edit]

(playful): charming
Also see Thesaurus:foolish

Antonyms[edit]

(playful): pious

Derived terms[edit]

(adverb): sillily, silly
silliness
silly season

Translations[edit]

foolish, showing a lack of good sense and wisdom

Afrikaans: onnosel (af), verspot
Arabic: سَخِيف‎ (saḵīf)
Armenian: հիմար (hy) (himar), տխմար (hy) (txmar)
Azerbaijani: sarsaq, səfeh, axmaq (az), qanmaz, ağılsız (az)
Bashkir: please add this translation if you can
Basque: please add this translation if you can
Belarusian: дурны́ (durný), глу́пы (hlúpy), тупы́ (tupý)
Bengali: please add this translation if you can
Breton: sod (br)
Bulgarian: глу́пав (bg) (glúpav), тъп (bg) (tǎp)
Burmese: မိုက်မဲ (my) (muikmai:), န (my) (na.), မိုက် (my) (muik), တုံးတာ (my) (tum:ta), တုံး (my) (tum:)
Catalan: ximple (ca), ximplet (ca), fava (ca), babau (ca)
Cherokee: please add this translation if you can
Chichewa: please add this translation if you can
Chinese:

Mandarin: 愚蠢 (zh) (yúchǔn), 笨 (zh) (bèn), 傻 (zh) (shǎ), 糊塗／糊涂 (zh) (hútu), 無聊／无聊 (zh) (wúliáo), 憨痴 (zh) (hānchī)
Czech: hloupý (cs), pošetilý (cs), bláhový (cs)
Danish: dum (da)
Dhivehi: please add this translation if you can
Dutch: ondoordacht (nl), dom (nl)
Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
Estonian: tobe, loll (et)
Ewe: please add this translation if you can
Extremaduran: please add this translation if you can
Finnish: typerä (fi), hölmö (fi)
French: sot (fr), insensé (fr), idiot (fr) m, bête (fr), fou (fr) m, stupide (fr)
Friulian: please add this translation if you can
Galician: parvo (gl)
Georgian: please add this translation if you can
German: doof (de), dumm (de)
Greek: σαχλός (el) (sachlós), χαζός (el) (chazós), ανόητος (el) (anóitos)

Ancient: ἄφρων (áphrōn), ἀβέλτερος (abélteros)
Hausa: please add this translation if you can
Hawaiian: kohu ʻole
Hebrew: מטופש‎ m (metupásh), טיפשי‎ m (tipshí)
Hindi: मूर्ख (hi) (mūrkh)
Hungarian: buta (hu), csacsi (hu)
Ido: stulta (io)
Igbo: please add this translation if you can
Indonesian: bodoh (id), konyol (id)
Interlingua: fatue
Irish: aertha, gamalach
Italian: sciocco (it) m
Japanese: 馬鹿げた (bakageta), 他愛ない (ja) (tawainai), 馬鹿 (ja) (ばか, baka)
Kannada: please add this translation if you can
Khmer: ដែលភ្លីភ្លើ (dael plii-pləə)
Korean: 어리석다 (ko) (eoriseokda)
Lao: ຈ້າ (chā)
Latin: stultus, fatuus, ineptus, excors
Latvian: muļķīgs, dumjš
Low German:

German Low German: sellig
Macedonian: глупав (glupav)
Malayalam: please add this translation if you can
Manx: meecheeallagh
Maori: rūrūwai, wawau
Marathi: फालतू (phāltū)
Mirandese: please add this translation if you can
Norwegian:

Bokmål: dum (no)
Old Church Slavonic:

Cyrillic: глоупъ (glupŭ)
Ottoman Turkish: خفیف‎ (hafif)
Polish: głupi (pl)
Portuguese: bobo (pt), tolo (pt), ingénuo (pt)
Romagnol: stòpid
Russian: глу́пый (ru) (glúpyj), дурно́й (ru) (durnój), тупо́й (ru) (tupój)
Sanskrit: दुर्मति (sa) (durmati)
Scottish Gaelic: amaideach, faoin
Serbo-Croatian:

Cyrillic: глу̑п, блесав

Roman: glȗp (sh), blesav (sh)
Slovak: hlúpy (sk)
Slovene: neumen (sl), butast, trapast, glúp
Spanish: bobo (es), tonto (es), niñito (es)
Thai: โง่ (th) (ngôo)
Ukrainian: дурни́й (durnýj), тупи́й (tupýj)
Vietnamese: ngu (vi)

irresponsible, showing irresponsible behaviors

Czech: pitomý (cs), hloupý (cs)
Dutch: dom (nl)
Finnish: hölmö (fi), ajattelematon (fi), vastuuton (fi), typerä (fi)
French: idiot (fr), fou (fr) m, givré (fr) m (slang), branque (fr) (slang), jeté (fr) m (slang)
Irish: ^{(please verify)} gan chiall
Japanese: 馬鹿 (ja) (baka), 阿呆 (ja) (aho)
Latin: fatuus, ineptus
Maori: wawau
Norwegian: tullete, fjollete
Portuguese: irresponsável (pt), infantil (pt), bobo (pt)
Scottish Gaelic: faoin
Slovak: hlúpy (sk)
Spanish: infantil (es)

playful, giggly

Bulgarian: игрив (bg) (igriv)
Danish: fjollet
Dutch: ondeugend (nl), gek (nl)
Finnish: hassu (fi)
French: bébête (fr), idiot (fr), nunuche (fr) f
Georgian: please add this translation if you can
German: albern (de)
Greek: σαχλός (el) (sachlós)
Hungarian: idétlen (hu)
Icelandic: kjánalegur (is)
Japanese: つまらない (ja) (tsumaranai)
Portuguese: bobo (pt)
Russian: глупышка (ru) (glupyška)
Scottish Gaelic: faoin
Spanish: apayasado (es)
Swedish: lekfull (sv), fnittrig (sv)
Tamil: விளையாட்டுத்தனமான (viḷaiyāṭṭuttaṉamāṉa)

cricket: of a fielding position, very close to the batsman; closer than short

Translations to be checked

Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} sensenca, ^{(please verify)} stulteta
Indonesian: ^{(please verify)} tolol (id), ^{(please verify)} dungu (id)
Irish: ^{(please verify)} guanach
Spanish: ^{(please verify)} necio (es), ^{(please verify)} bobo (es), ^{(please verify)} simple (es), ^{(please verify)} absurdo (es), ^{(please verify)} insensato (es), ^{(please verify)} tonto (es)

Adverb[edit]

silly (comparative sillier, superlative silliest)

(now regional or colloquial) Sillily: in a silly manner.
- 1731, Colley Cibber, Careless Husband, 7th ed., i, i, 21:
  
  If you did but see how silly a Man fumbles for an Excuse, when he’s a little asham’d of being in Love.

Noun[edit]

silly (plural sillies)

(colloquial) A silly person.
- 1807 May, Scots Magazine, 366/1:
  
  While they, poor sillies, bid good night,
  O’ love an’ bogles eerie.
(endearing, gently derogatory) A term of address.
- 1918 September, St. Nicholas, 972/2:
  
  ‘Come on, silly,’ said Nannie.
(colloquial) A mistake.

Translations[edit]

silly person

Bulgarian: щурчо (bg) m (šturčo)
Danish: fjols n, tosse (da) c
German: Dummerchen (de) m
Norwegian:

Bokmål: dummenikk m, dumming m
Turkish: şapşal (tr)

References[edit]

^ Middle English Dictionary, «sēlī (adj.)».

Oxford English Dictionary, «»silly, adj., n., and adv.«, 2013.

Anagrams[edit]

silyl, slily, yills

Источник

глупый, простой, глуповатый, глупыш, дурак, несмышленыш

прилагательное ↓

- неумный, неразумный; глупый

a silly thing — глупость
a silly mistake — нелепая /дурацкая/ ошибка
don’t be silly — не глупи
you silly girl [boy]! — глупышка [дурачок] ты!
that was silly of me — это с моей стороны было глупо /неблагоразумно/

- разг. одуревший, ничего не соображающий (от удара и т. п.)

scared silly — одуревший от страха
he knocked me silly — от удара я перестал что-л. соображать

- (over) влюблённый по уши

to go silly over a woman — потерять голову от любви к женщине

- слабый, болезненный; беспомощный
- жалкий, ничтожный
- редк. слабоумный, умственно отсталый

существительное ↓

- разг. глупыш; несмышлёныш

don’t take offence, silly! — не обижайся, дурачок /глупышка/!
don’t be such a silly — не глупи

глагол

- сл. оглушать, ошеломлять

Мои примеры

Словосочетания

a blithesome and silly joke among old friends — весёлая и дурацкая шутка в кругу старых друзей
his scathing remarks about silly lady novelists — его язвительные замечания в адрес глупеньких писательниц
silly cow — дурёха, тупая корова
silly fool — идиот
silly giggle — глупое хихиканье
silly idea — дурацкая идея
silly mistake — нелепая ошибка
silly question — дурацкий вопрос
silly ass — дурак, «осёл»
it is silly of smb. — глупо с чьей-л. стороны
to drink oneself silly — напиться до умопомрачения
silly visionary — глупый мечтатель

Примеры с переводом

Don’t be silly!

не глупи!

It is a silly thing to do.

Глупо поступать так.

No, silly, I didn’t mean that.

Нет, глупенький, я не то имел ввиду.

You made a lot of silly mistakes.

Ты наделал много глупостей.

That’s the silliest thing I’ve ever heard.

Это самая большая глупость, которую я когда-либо слышал.

She is what is called a silly.

Она из тех, кого называют глупышками.

The idea does seem a bit silly.

Идея действительно кажется немного глупой.

ещё 23 примера свернуть

Примеры, ожидающие перевода

…“blondes have more fun” is a silly platitude…

…this discussion is so silly we might as well altercate on how many angels can dance on the point of a needle…

Для того чтобы добавить вариант перевода, кликните по иконке ☰, напротив примера.

Возможные однокоренные слова

Формы слова

noun
ед. ч.(singular): silly
мн. ч.(plural): sillies

adjective
срав. степ. (comparative): sillier
прев. степ. (superlative): silliest

Источник