What's the difference between folly and niceness?

Folly


Definition:

  • (n.) The state of being foolish; want of good sense; levity, weakness, or derangement of mind.
  • (n.) A foolish act; an inconsiderate or thoughtless procedure; weak or light-minded conduct; foolery.
  • (n.) Scandalous crime; sin; specifically, as applied to a woman, wantonness.
  • (n.) The result of a foolish action or enterprise.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) It is a folly to think measures to fix eurozone governance will suffice, however needed those may be.
  • (2) A senior Conservative cabinet minister has issued a warning to leaders "of all political parties" that putting Britain's membership of the European Union at risk would be "complete folly" and that the "irresponsible" debate taking place is damaging the country's influence at the negotiating table.
  • (3) Whenever I hear about David Blunkett's tests for new immigrants, I think of my mother's initial impressions and don't know whether to laugh or cry: laugh because of the patent folly of his attempts to fix what is fluid and to codify what is contested in British identity; or cry at the racism that has inspired it, the nationalism that informs it, and the historical, political and cultural illiteracy that infects every part of it.
  • (4) Vice, folly and humbug – it is the point of satire really.
  • (5) Honor & Folly ( honorandfolly.com , one bedroom $165 a night, both bedrooms $215, plus a sofabed for children) is a home away from home with a fully stocked kitchen and a cosy living area decorated with vintage and locally crafted furniture.
  • (6) His friend Dingle Foot drafted an editorial that David then sharpened up, inserting phrases that summed up his outlook: 'We had not realised that our government was capable of such folly and crookedness...It is no longer possible to bomb countries because you fear that your trading interests will be harmed...this new feeling for the sanctity of human life is the best element in the modern world.'
  • (7) ‘Patriotism’ is a difficult concept to pin, and one man’s patriotism can easily be misjudged as folly or even treachery if we start judging based on a narrow understanding of the term.” Walid, a Muslim veteran of the navy, added that “even though we invaded Iraq based upon bogus information, that doesn’t diminish the sacrifice of Captain Khan and other American service members who lost their lives”.
  • (8) A few years before Lady Thatcher and Mr Letwin became obsessed with the poll tax, the American historian Barbara Tuchman wrote a book about the march of folly in human affairs from the Trojan to the Vietnamese war.
  • (9) To continue along this path of folly is not compatible with the maintenance of wealth, nor with the health of humans or the biosphere.
  • (10) At 568,969, the paper’s circulation had recently overtaken that of its old rival, the Sunday Times : it’s not true that it plummeted after Suez as a result of the outrage caused by Astor adding the line: “We had not realised that our government was capable of such folly and such crookedness” to Dingle Foot’s leader – but well-heeled middle-class readers who cancelled their subscriptions were replaced by relatively impoverished students and leftwing intellectuals.
  • (11) Some startlingly grand privately owned buildings have repeatedly appeared on the annual register of the most important listed buildings at risk – virtually all the HHA properties are listed, and many are also scheduled ancient monuments or set in grade I gardens – including garden buildings and follies at Castle Howard in Yorkshire and Frogmore mausoleum, which holds some of the Queen's ancestors, in the grounds of Windsor Castle.
  • (12) In London, the Times newspaper called Ford’s position denying aid to New York City an “act of monumental folly”.
  • (13) Giles Swayne London • "Intelligent" Boris Johnson commits the age-old folly of mistaking good fortune, selfishness, narcissism and aggression for intelligence, but unwittingly demonstrates the wrongness of his position.
  • (14) That police can legally do this, the QCCL argues, illustrates the folly and unfairness of laws intended to safeguard an event at which police, on their own projections, will outnumber protesters three to one.
  • (15) This sad state of affairs shows the folly of handing over taxpayers’ money to unaccountable groups to run schools.
  • (16) There are obvious implications for public services, and the clear link between poor public services and demand for healthcare is ignored at our folly.
  • (17) In a household, it would be economic folly to lay out grand plans without having the money to pay for them.
  • (18) The cliff-side Mussenden Temple is a folly that was modelled on the Temple of Vesta in Rome and built for the Earl Bishop of Derry (one of Lord Bristol’s eccentric forbears), in 1785.
  • (19) Follies plays exquisitely on the unreliability of memory and the ephemerality of theatre; it is a stark warning against the distorting dangers of nostalgia.
  • (20) In giving $850bn to the IMF the G20 are only making the poor suffer more, and forcing them to pay for the folly and greed of bankers and speculators.

Niceness


Definition:

  • (n.) Quality or state of being nice.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) It would be nice if it was more ... but I am trying."
  • (2) But the Franco-British spat sparked by Dave's rejection of Angela and Nicolas's cunning plan to save the euro has been given wings by news the US credit agencies may soon strip France of its triple-A rating and is coming along very nicely, thank you. "
  • (3) Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall tried to liven things up, but there are only so many ways to tell us to be nice to chickens.
  • (4) GlaxoSmithKline was unusually critical of the decision by Nice, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, and also the Scottish Medicines Consortium, to reject its drug belimumab (brand name Benlysta) in final draft guidance.
  • (5) Nice (the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence) has also published new guidance on good patient experience that provides a strong framework on which to build good engagement practice.
  • (6) These can lead to communications blackouts around the Earth and produce aurorae; indeed, there have been several nice displays over recent weeks.
  • (7) While the Spielberg of popular myth is Mr Nice Guy, Lean was known as an obsessive, cantankerous tyrant who didn't much like actors and was only truly happy locked away in the editing suite.
  • (8) I started yelling at him to come back,” Brittany Nicely, of Dayton, told the Cincinnati Enquirer.
  • (9) Some offer a range, depending on whether you think you're a bit of a buff, and know a pinot meunier from a pinot noir and what prestige cuvée actually means or you just want to see a bit of the process and have a nice glass of bubbly at the end of it, before moving on to the next place – touring a pretty corner of France getting slowly, and delightfully, fizzled.
  • (10) This is a very nice drug and I’m sure Merck are feeling very pleased with themselves.” Matt Kennedy, who led the trial at Merck, said: “Today there are very limited therapeutic options available for people with Alzheimer’s disease, and those that exist provide only short-term improvement to the cognitive and functional symptoms.
  • (11) McCall said the outlook remained uncertain: “The economic and operating environment remains uncertain, following the high levels of disruption and more recently the UK’s referendum decision to leave the EU, as well as the recent events in Turkey and Nice, which have affected consumer confidence.
  • (12) A young literature student accused him of manipulating the language, and then – at the end – another woman noted that he spoke very nicely before declaring him “a wolf in sheep’s clothing”.
  • (13) Legal tax avoidance is something even nice people make decisions about every day.
  • (14) Nice says the change would be highly cost effective.
  • (15) Furthermore, the approach provides a nice graphical representation of the relationships between the PK-PD parameters and covariates.
  • (16) They turned out to be very nice and greatly appreciative of my efforts despite their own grave situation as I’ve since learned is generally the case.
  • (17) It is so sad, we don’t let her go out even if the weather is nice,” he says.
  • (18) The smoky density of the mackerel was nicely offset by the pointed black olive tapenade and the fresh, zingy flavours present in little tangles of tomato, shallot, red pepper and spring onion, a layer of pea shoots and red chard, and the generous dressing of grassy olive oil.
  • (19) Romney contends the president is a nice guy who has failed to make things better.
  • (20) Photograph: Jonathan Lovekin for the Observer Nigel Slater's cold noodle and tomato salad makes a nice grownup supper with leftovers for the packed lunch.

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