sillier; silliest
1
2
: being stunned or dazed
scared silly
knocked me silly
3
1
informal
: to an extreme degree
was scared silly
bored silly
2
: in a silly manner : in an absurd or ridiculous way
talking/behaving silly
Benny Hill just walked silly, period, usually at high speed, to the accompaniment of cheesy pop music …—
Charles Isherwood
Charles Isherwood
plural sillies
: one who is silly : a foolish person
"But there," she told herself, "I am very likely a silly—meeting trouble half-way."—D. H. Lawrence
D. H. Lawrence"Well then, silly, why not stay!"—Edna Ferber
Edna Ferber"And who, then? Oh, the long line of sillies, light-weights, rakes, ne'er-do-wells, who … constituted society."—Theodore Dreiser
Theodore DreiserWhen the narrator describes women directly they seem … innately either sentimental sillies … or … pious hypocrites.—Myra Jehlen
Myra JehlenSynonyms
Examples of silly in a Sentence
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 WebJudy Berman, TIME, 30 Apr. 2024
The memes quickly turned silly, and their core claims were roundly debunked as overly simplistic, plain wrong, and somewhat eugenicist.
—Ilana Masad, The Atlantic, 26 Apr. 2024
See all Example Sentences for silly 
Adjective
There are too many gaping plot holes and silly characters, like Max, for that.
—Judy Berman, TIME, 30 Apr. 2024
The memes quickly turned silly, and their core claims were roundly debunked as overly simplistic, plain wrong, and somewhat eugenicist.
—Ilana Masad, The Atlantic, 26 Apr. 2024
See all Example Sentences for silly
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.
Dictionary Entries Near silly
Cite this Entry
“Silly.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/silly. Accessed 5 May. 2024.
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