as in blunder
a foolish act or idea
writing a sequel to a Jane Austen novel must be regarded as a literary bêtise of the highest order
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bêtise
Noun
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Viewers speculated whether this was a blunder, power play or something else.—
Rachel Treisman,
NPR,
27 May 2025 -
Many of the nation’s biggest military blunders occurred because there wasn’t enough diversity in the armed forces.—
John Blake,
CNN Money,
26 May 2025
Noun
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Dominguez has pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity in the stabbing deaths of David Breaux, 50, and Karim Abou Najm, 20, at Davis’ Central and Sycamore parks; and the wounding of Kimberlee Guillory, then 64, in her tent in the city’s downtown.—
Darrell Smith,
Sacbee.com,
24 May 2025
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And in the insanity of general religion, why not a dolphin Jesus?—
Jeff Spry,
Space.com,
15 May 2025
Noun
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Delving deep into sublime absurdity, Elster transmuted Bowie into a broad range of peculiar characters.—
Natasha Gural,
Forbes.com,
22 May 2025
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Mara opted to stay in her lane as a dramatic star to ground the absurdity of the film, including the antics between Robinson and Paul Rudd onscreen.—
Samantha Bergeson,
IndieWire,
19 May 2025
Noun
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Warping science to conform to one’s politics will not change reality and will only ruin the nation that embarks on this folly.—
Alexander Soifer,
Scientific American,
2 May 2025
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The current drift toward authoritarian leaders in this fractured world will leave international relations at the mercy of their whims, dreams, and follies.—
Margaret MacMillan,
The Atlantic,
30 Apr. 2025
Noun
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This time, the technique is turned upon classic alien invasion movies of the Golden Age with liberal helpings of pure human stupidity as a seemingly peaceful first contact moment goes awry and gets bloody, leading to a solar system-ending flatulent finish.—
Jeff Spry,
Space.com,
17 May 2025
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Tiny terror is unleashed in this mini alien apocalypse as directors Robert Bisi and Andy Lyon pay loving tribute to classic sci-fi stories of alien invasion and human stupidity using tilt-shift techniques that make the end of the world look almost cute.—
Ethan Shanfeld,
Variety,
24 Apr. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Bêtise.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/b%C3%AAtise. Accessed 5 Jun. 2025.
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