Word
asininity
Phoneticsasinin·i·ty
/ˌæsəˈnɪnɪti/
Definition
n. the quality of being extremely foolish or stupid. You use this word to describe an idea or action that makes no sense at all.
n. the quality of being extremely foolish, stupid, or lackadaisical in judgment. Refers to the state of being like an ass or donkey in stubbornness or lack of intellect.
Examples
“I cannot believe the sheer asininity of this new rule.”
“He could not believe the asininity of her decision to quit her job without a backup plan.”
“While the debate began with serious policy concerns, it quickly devolved into pure asininity as the candidates began trading petty personal insults.”
Examples
simple
“I cannot believe the sheer asininity of this new rule.”
contextual
“He could not believe the asininity of her decision to quit her job without a backup plan.”
complex
“While the debate began with serious policy concerns, it quickly devolved into pure asininity as the candidates began trading petty personal insults.”
Usage
Often used with the adjective 'sheer' or 'pure' to emphasize the degree of foolishness.
Real-World Examples
“With hindsight, while ignorance and apathy aren’t great qualities, it turns out that asininity and exuberance, especially when mixed, have proven to be far worse.” “She has therefore allowed him "insider's access" ("largely waiting on sofas with my laptop waiting for her make-up/rehearsals/almost anything else to be finished until I can ask her a few more questions of such surpassing asininity that it will make your ears bleed to hear them") to kick off his new ITV2 series, Perez Hilton: Superfan.” Etymology
From asinine + -ity. The adjective asinine entered English in the fifteenth century from Latin asinus, "ass", via asininus; the suffix -ity arrived separately, from Old French -ité and ultimately Latin -itās, to form abstract nouns. The compound is modern.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/asininity