folie

madness

noun foh-LEE Less Common

Also means

folly

Usage Note

Folie ranges from clinical insanity to passionate excess. C'est de la folie ('it's madness') is a common exclamation. The idiom à la folie means 'madly' or 'to distraction' — je t'aime à la folie ('I love you madly'). The 18th-century pleasure houses called folies (ornamental buildings in gardens) also carry this word's sense of extravagant whimsy.

Examples

"C'est de la folie de partir maintenant."

Natural Translation

It's madness to leave now.

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