How to use folly in a sentence

40 example sentences · noun, verb

Folly means foolishness that results from a lack of foresight or lack of practicality. Example: “It would be folly to walk all that way, knowing the shops are probably shut by now.”

Examples of folly by meaning

nounFoolishness 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.

nounThoughtless action resulting in tragic consequence.

The purchase of Alaska from Russia was termed Seward's folly.
Thames Water has become the latest object lesson in the predictable and predicted folly of privatised monopolies, aided by a regulator that’s an even bigger wet wipe than the fatbergs bunging up the sewers.2023 June 30, Marina Hyde, “The tide is coming in fast on Rishi Sunak – and it’s full of sewage”, in The Guardian

nounA 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.
It has been a long time since new follies were springing up across the great estates of Britain.2014 September 7, “Doddington's garden pyramid is a folly good show”, in The Daily Telegraph, London
A great deal of eccentricity was expressed through the trend for ruin follies.2018 April 18, Paul Cooper, “Europe Was Once Obsessed With Fake Dilapidated Buildings”, in The Atlantic

verbTo follow.

You can always folly a man down an alley, can't you?"1957 September 5, Jack Kerouac, On the Road, London: Penguin Books, published 1976, →ISBN, page 23
"That's one hell of a thick bunch of canvas, but I follied the seam."2002, Richard Kilroy O'Malley, Hobo: A Depression Odyssey, →ISBN, page 104
Howandever, at the selfsame time, there was a gang of fellas from the valley of kings follying the very same pointy star.2012, Honor Molloy, Smarty Girl: Dublin Savage, Boston, M.A.: Gemma, →ISBN, page 43

More sentences with folly

I paid a high price for my folly.From the entry price
Overall, experience in the two decades that followed the publication of Dijkstra's letter showed the folly of producing goto-laden code.From the entry goto
It was pure folly, but I was kind of worried about her.2021, Traci Andrighetti, chapter 9, in Valpolicella Violet (Franki Amato Mysteries; 7), Limoncello Press, →ISBN. From the entry tomato
“That train has left the station and to stand in its way is folly.”2016 November 16, Adam Withnall, “Donald Trump must not make any 'irrevocable choices' over climate change, warns John Kerry”, in The…. From the entry that train has left the station
For the salarians, to know an enemy plans to attack and to let it happen is folly.2008, BioWare, Mass Effect, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Salarians: Military Doctrine Codex entry. From the entry preemptive strike
Folly, like Wisdom, speaks in proverbs, but her proverbs are antiwisdom: "Stolen water is sweet."2004, Timothy R. Carmody, Reading the Bible: A Study Guide. From the entry antiwisdom
But the ashes of Auschwitz fell on Hitler's folly, on the announcement of the millenarian Reich.1997, Olivier Clément, Conversations with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, page 159. From the entry millenarian
Marston poses as the Timonist malcontent satirist ready to excoriate the world for its follies.1988, Maurice Charney, Hamlet's fictions. From the entry Timonist
At the Governor’s I commented upon this egrecious folly and ignorance and the ex Premier Mr.1954, Ellen Kean, Charles John Kean, Emigrant in Motley: The Journey of Charles and Ellen Kean in Quest of a, Rockliffpage 182. From the entry egrecious
But a little further reflexion shows him the folly of such a course.1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt, [Paris]: Olympia Press, →OCLC. From the entry reflexion
He said that the Eiffel Tower was a monument of man's folly, not of his wisdom.1927, M[ohandas] K[aramchand] Gandhi, chapter XXIII, in Mahadev Desai, transl., The Story of My Experiments with Truth: Translated from…. From the entry Eiffel Tower
He made no pretence either of innocence or of questioning the folly of his proceedings against Queensberry.1918, George Bernard Shaw, “A Letter to Frank Harris, published by him in his Life of Wilde”, in Pen Portraits and Reviews, London…. From the entry infatuate
It shows the folly, in times of peace, anyhow, of allowing soldiers to administer the law.1914 June 26, “Current Topics”, in The Australian Christian Commonwealth, volume XXVII, number 1349, Adelaide, S.A., →OCLC, page 11…. From the entry draconianly
They do not appreciate human arrogance and hence the Bolis of Puri are slangful, loud and unabated barbs at human follies.2021 September 3, Charudutta Panigrahi, “The Intimacy Of Slangs”, in Odisha News, archived from the original on 19 Mar 2025. From the entry slangful
Are you justified to reproach him in public even if he hasn't crossed any incondonable limit, just committed a petty folly?2010, Quleen Kaur Bijral, Ripples Of Mind, lulu.com, page 30. From the entry incondonable
Having given up her good judgment, in favour of blind submission to a love she mispledged, folly is inevitable.1981, Vincent Cuccaro, The Humanism of Ludovico Ariosto, page 209. From the entry mispledge
It is folly to deny that the scenario of this novel takes place nightly in bars throughout the country.1974 February 2, Eric Rofes, “For Leathermen Who Have Considered S & M”, in Gay Community News, volume 1, number 32, page 19. From the entry youngman
Even the spade-handed moles shall declare their folly.1945, Wystan Hugh Auden, The collected poetry of W. H. Auden, page 247. From the entry spade-handed
Follies chorus girls, chiefly the ponies and mediums.1941, Thoda Cocroft, Great Names and how They are Made, page 140. From the entry pony
His befuddled brain was hopelessly attacking the problem of the future maintenance of himself and his favourite follies.1910, O. Henry [pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], “A Blackjack Bargainer”, in Whirligigs. From the entry befuddled
One folly was enough, especially it was to last for ever; a second one would not much set it off.1908, Henry James, chapter XXXIX, in The Portrait of a Lady (The Novels and Tales of Henry James), New York edition, volume (please…. From the entry set off
They will blame him for what they perceive as a folly – his belief that achieving nuclear status would render his regime invincible.2025 June 26, Kasra Naji, “When Iran's supreme leader emerges from hiding he will find a very different nation”, in BBC. From the entry nuclear
And what about moral hazard—or concern that protecting the system, however errant the behaviour of certain bankers, will encourage more folly in the future?2008 October 4, William Keegan, “Moral hazard? It's just another danger along the capitalist way”, in The Guardian, →ISSN. From the entry moral hazard
Reflecting on the weaknesses of the nation-system in central and eastern Europe, Arendt saw in Herzlian Zionism a recipe for repeating these follies in Palestine.2003, Seyla Benhabib, The Reluctant Modernism of Hannah Arendt, →ISBN, page 44. From the entry Herzlian
Every age has its own brand of folly and ridicule; in literature, we have already witnessed (and perhaps given too much aid to) many manias.1996, Charles-Auguste Sainte-Beuve, “Industrial Literature (1839)”, in Rosemary Lloyd, transl., Revolutions in Writing: Readings in…. From the entry mysticity
Sue withdrew to the kitchen, very much aware that she had committed a folly as bad or worse than miswalking a minuet.1941, Cyril Harris, Richard Pryne: A Novel of the American Revolution, page 87. From the entry miswalk
But the owners of Doddington Hall, in Lincolnshire, have brought the folly into the 21st century, by building a 30ft pyramid in the grounds of the Elizabethan manor.2014 September 7, “Doddington's garden pyramid is a folly good show: The owners of a Lincolnshire stately home have brought the folly into…. From the entry estate
So part of our challenge is reconciling these two seemingly inreconcilable truths -- that war is sometimes necessary, and war at some level is an expression of human folly.2009, Barrack Obama, Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech. From the entry inreconcilable
It is an art which topples greatness, undermines pretension and punishes pride by revealing the low in the pretendedly high, the filth in the pure, the folly in reason.2003, Roy Porter, Flesh in the Age of Reason, Ch.9, at p.148. From the entry satire
This common faith or set of aspirations, he added, could also help Americans transcend their selfishnesses and follies and promote a world civil religion given to justice and hope.1988 March 5, Martin E. Marty, “FRONT-PAGE RELIGION”, in The New York Times. From the entry selfishness
The follies of change appear strikingly exemplified in a character named Phantaste, one of the frivolous nymphs who have desertlessly wormed their way into the purlieus of the court.1981, Jonas A. Barish, The Antitheatrical Prejudice, →ISBN, page 149. From the entry desertlessly

Meaning of folly

noun Foolishness that results from a lack of foresight or lack of practicality.
noun Thoughtless action resulting in tragic consequence.
noun A fanciful building built for purely ornamental reasons.

Full definition of folly

Questions about folly in a sentence

How do you use folly in a sentence?: Folly is used as a noun and verb. For example: “It would be folly to walk all that way, knowing the shops are probably shut by now.”
What is a short sentence with folly?: “Even the spade-handed moles shall declare their folly.”
What does folly mean?: Folly means foolishness that results from a lack of foresight or lack of practicality.

Adapted from Wiktionary: folly (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use folly in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/folly. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.