What's the difference between foolishness and ridiculousness?

Foolishness


Definition:

  • (n.) The quality of being foolish.
  • (n.) A foolish practice; an absurdity.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) So, logic would dictate that if Greeks are genuinely in favour of reform – and opinion polls have consistently shown wide support for many of the structural changes needed – they would be foolish to give these two parties another chance.
  • (2) It would be foolish to bet that Saudi Arabia will exist in its current form a generation from now.” Memories of how the Saudis and Opec deliberately triggered an economic crisis in the west in retaliation for US aid to Israel during the 1973 Yom Kippur war still rankle.
  • (3) That's foolish, because Real Madrid rarely look more uncomfortable than at set pieces.
  • (4) "We regret that Congress was forced to waste its time voting on a foolish bill that was premised entirely on false claims and ignorance," David Jenkins, an REP official, said in a statement.
  • (5) Shorten said while Hicks was “foolish to get caught up in the Afghanistan conflict” the court decision showed an injustice.
  • (6) Many commentators considered the suggestion merely foolish, but computer hackers issued death threats against her and her children, which she promptly posted on Twitter, along with the defiant message: "Get stuffed, losers.
  • (7) And it means that if Labour were to win, Mr Brown would be very foolish, indeed downright wrong, to move Mr Darling.
  • (8) "It was a certain kind of titillation the shop offered," the critic Matthew Collings has written, "sexual but also hopeless, destructive, foolish, funny, sad."
  • (9) Describing the moment McKellen knocked on his dressing room door he said: “I ushered him in nervously, expecting notes for my poor performance or indiscipline – I was a foolish, naughty young actor.
  • (10) But what people did when they were young and foolish, or even when they were not yet public figures, is not always the same.
  • (11) While we have this, it would be foolish to pursue a policy of still constraining resources in the acute sector.
  • (12) All three echoed remarks made recently by the Bank’s governor, Mark Carney, who said it would be “foolish” to cut rates in response to a temporary fall in inflation.
  • (13) Since the initially peaceful demonstrations against his regime began more than three years ago, he has proved himself, by turns, foolish, craven and vicious.
  • (14) In a high-risk, 65-minute speech in Manchester delivered without notes, and 20 minutes longer than he intended, Miliband tried to take the mantle of the 19th-century Tory prime minister Benjamin Disraeli's one nation, pointedly grabbing the territory and language of the centre ground which he believes David Cameron has foolishly vacated.
  • (15) But one backbencher, West Australian Liberal Dennis Jensen , has said it is foolish to set up a $20bn medical research fund at the same time as the government is cutting money from scientific agencies, including the CSIRO and the Australian Research Council.
  • (16) Donald Trump is too weak, too foolish and too chaotic to see beyond the immediate crises he has created.
  • (17) Here, too, Capote displayed uncanny journalistic skills, capturing even the most languid and enigmatic of subjects – Brando in his pomp – and eliciting the kinds of confidences that left the actor reflecting ruefully on his "unutterable foolishness".
  • (18) They privately acknowledge they were foolish in taking the bait, but argue they have broken no rules since they were offered no jobs, and therefore have no commercial interests to declare in the MPs' register.
  • (19) "Hopefully, the lesson is to stop this foolish childishness," McCain said Thursday on CNN.
  • (20) The only thing that one really knows about human nature is that it changes.” As for the social conditions that obtain: “It is exactly the existing conditions that one objects to, and any scheme that could accept these conditions is wrong and foolish.” Looking back on my political activism of the 1970s and 80s, there was a lot of refusing to accept existing conditions on the basis that they were “wrong and foolish”.

Ridiculousness


Definition:

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Historically, what made SNL’s campaign coverage so necessary was its ability to highlight the subtle absurdities of the election and exaggerate the ridiculous.
  • (2) It is ridiculous,' says Li Rui, a former secretary of Mao Zedong.
  • (3) No doubt it was intended as a bold and graphic way of presenting the Iranian nuclear threat, but much of the initial response – on Twitter, at least – was ridicule.
  • (4) "It would be ridiculous to encourage shale gas when in reality its greenhouse gas footprint could be as bad as or worse than coal.
  • (5) He says he won't respond to the latest ridiculous rumor of Republican action.
  • (6) At the 2nd stage, as the self-esteem lowered and negative attitude of other schoolchildren arose, the neurotic disorders emerged alongside with prevalent depressive reactions and fear of getting bad marks and being an object of ridicule at school.
  • (7) Once I’d checked she was OK I said, ‘Stop crying now.’ ” So it’s about managing emotions: ‘I’m going to need you to get a grip.’” “If you’ve got interesting points to make about the devaluing of serious words like bullying and depression, why make them in a way that sounds like you’re ridiculing people who are suffering?” I ask.
  • (8) Walden said the comparison with Comet was “ridiculous”.
  • (9) Well, Machado put those skills on display on Sunday, and this is an excuse to bring you his ridiculous play against the Yankees.
  • (10) Alamgir was ridiculed on social media after he told the BBC that the building may have collapsed after opposition activists enforcing a general strike "pushed at the gate and columns of the building".
  • (11) "The ANC pretence that we don't have a social crisis in this country is quite ridiculous.
  • (12) So we started asking them ridiculous questions about being single," says Lucas, "and the sheer number of misunderstandings about each other's lives felt like comedic material."
  • (13) "Rio Ferdinand's decision-making, the chances he has taken, it is ridiculous.
  • (14) It's ridiculous, because there will soon be a massive public outcry about how there's nowhere for kids to go.
  • (15) Westminster wits had taken to ridiculing the rebel movement against Gordon Brown as a "peasants' revolt", a cohort without influence.
  • (16) To create a new bank, which we understand is an option, which could be called Glyn Mills, is ridiculously back to the future.
  • (17) JD, Oxford More than three months to get a replacement debit card is ridiculous, and we agree that you have been more than patient.
  • (18) The Kiev-appointed governor, Serhiy Taruta, has dismissed this poll as ridiculous, pointing out that most of the region's 2.4 million voters won't take part.
  • (19) Liberal Democrats and Conservatives today ridiculed a request by Labour to broadcasters to focus more on policy analysis.
  • (20) Edge: Cardinals Bench Shane Robinson made a name for himself in Game Four of the NLCS with a pinch-hit home run and actually finished the NLCS with an OPS of 1.278, which is completely ridiculous and tops any of his teammates by a country mile.