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English
Etymology
Phonetic variant of seely, related to soul. From Old English *sǣliġ, "blessed", (attested only in form ġesǣliġ), from Proto-Germanic *sǣligo-. Cognate with West Frisian sillich, Dutch zalig, German selig.
Pronunciation
-
- Rhymes: -ɪli
Adjective
silly (comparative sillier, superlative silliest)
- (obsolete) Pitiable; deserving of compassion; helpless.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, I.vi:
- A silly man, in simple weedes forworne, / And soild with dust of the long dried way; / His sandales were with toilesome trauell torne, / And face all tand with scorching sunny ray [...].
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, I.vi:
- foolish, showing a lack of good sense and wisdom; frivolous, trifling.
- I made a very silly mistake.
- irresponsible, showing irresponsible behaviors.
- What a silly kid, he's always getting in trouble.
- playful, giggly.
- The newlyweds called each other silly little nicknames.
- semiconscious, witless.
- The impact of the ball knocked him silly.
- (cricket) of a fielding position, very close to the batsman; closer than short
- (pejorative) simple, not intelligent, refined.
- John was prosperous and his helpless, silly father could be of no use to him.
Derived terms
- sillily (adverb)
- silly season
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lubbockonline.com
Wed, 21 Jul 2010 11:27:41 GMT+00:00
LubbockOnline.com (blog) The main thing a story starring the Substitute Heroes and the Inferior Five needs to have is a nice big dollop of silly , and this was a pretty darn silly ...
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