Definition of "folly" in English

noun

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.

verb

1. (dialectal) To follow.

noun

1. (largely obsolete outside place names) A clump of trees, particularly one on the crest of a hill (or sometimes on a stretch of open ground).

   • During the 1920s and 1930s, Folly Farms (above) [referencing a photograph of a farmhouse surrounded by large trees] was owned by Mrs. Samuel Pennington Rotan of Pennsylvania, who was involved in the effort to improve medical care for the indigent people around Ways Station. … Folly Farms was originally known as Myrtle Grove …