fatuity

noun

fə-ˈtü-ət-ē How to pronounce fatuity (audio)
Definition of fatuitynext
1
as in insanity
a foolish act or idea opening another auto dealership in an area that already has a surplus of them seems like a gross fatuity

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2
as in madness
lack of good sense or judgment local morning DJs lambasted the fatuity of the homeowner who used gasoline to burn a pile of brushwood

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3
as in obtuseness
the quality or state of lacking intelligence or quickness of mind the fatuity of the characters on that TV sitcom actually gets laughs

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of fatuity Despite the fatuity of the arguments being posited by the ESG critics, the investment industry is running scared. — Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 9 Dec. 2022 Molière escapes fatuity with his candor that what restores a universe unbalanced by intellectual obsession is, most often, normal erotic appetite. — Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 1 Feb. 2022 Their work, in and out of power, is to dress up the atavistic avarice and self-serving fatuity of the wealthy people who fund and shape conservative politics as an ideology. — David Roth, The New Republic, 9 June 2020
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fatuity
  1. insanity
  2. madness
  3. thickness
  4. idiocy
  5. simplicity
  6. stupidness
  7. absurdity
  8. unwisdom
Noun
  • That sentence would have sounded like insanity a few decades ago, but in the strange world of Hollywood in the 2020s, weirder might really be better.
    — Christian Zilko, IndieWire, 16 Oct. 2026
  • So this is just a build-up, and there is such insanity coming.
    — Derek Lawrence, Entertainment Weekly, 16 Oct. 2026
Definition of insanity
Noun
  • This being Dodge, of course, the AWD is optional and can be shut off at will when the driver prefers rear-wheel madness.
    — New Atlas, New Atlas, 14 Oct. 2026
  • Gold joined the show in Season 2, just as muppet madness was really taking off.
    — K.J. Yossman, Variety, 12 Oct. 2026
Definition of madness
Noun
  • Rocket Lab also deleted joints in the first stage tank structure and increased the thickness of some sections of the carbon composite.
    — Stephen Clark, ArsTechnica, 15 Oct. 2026
  • There are more than 650 regulatory elements associated with beak size and nearly 1,700 with beak thickness and breadth.
    — Jeffrey Kluger, Time, 14 Oct. 2026
Definition of thickness
Noun
  • There's always been an element of complete idiocy in the culture.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 6 Oct. 2026
  • Forty years on, Spy magazine is best remembered, not unjustly, as the first entity to call out Trump for his tackiness, villainy, and arrant idiocy.
    — David Kamp, Air Mail, 3 Oct. 2026
Definition of idiocy
Noun
  • Now manufacturers are reconsidering whether that simplicity is worth the waste.
    — New Atlas, New Atlas, 17 Oct. 2026
  • The simplicity of the shoes paired well with her crimson-red sequined and beaded ensemble that landed right at her ankles.
    — Karla Rodriguez, Footwear News, 15 Oct. 2026
Definition of simplicity
Noun
  • In an email to Krebs, Valadon claimed that the repo’s commit logs show that GitHub’s default protections against committing secrets—protections designed to protect unwitting or unskilled developers against exactly this kind of stupidness—had been disabled by the repo’s administrator.
    — Lee Hutchinson, ArsTechnica, 19 May 2026
Definition of stupidness
Noun
  • Early on, Sakurai exploits the inherent absurdity of telling a story populated by so many ludicrous characters.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 16 Oct. 2026
  • Unlike Gregor Samsa who is confined to his room after transforming into a huge insect, the protagonist still has to go to work, a dark and bleak absurdity that lays bare the alienation, isolation, and hypocrisy of modern life.
    — Deadline, Deadline, 14 Oct. 2026
Definition of absurdity
Noun
  • Even at the outset of Covid-19, the unwisdom of lockdowns guided mainstream epidemiology.
    — Phillip W. Magness and Peter C. Earle, WSJ, 19 Dec. 2021
  • Dog-dad Daryl proves the unwisdom of bringing his pet to work and ends up crawling through a crack in the rocks to chase his pup.
    — Richard Rys, Vulture, 15 Aug. 2021
Definition of unwisdom

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Cite this Entry

“Fatuity.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fatuity. Accessed 21 Oct. 2026.

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