fatuous
pronunciation
How to pronounce fatuous in British English:
UK [ˈfætʃuəs]
How to pronounce fatuous in American English:
US [ˈfætʃuəs]
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- Adjective:
- complacently or inanely foolish
Word Origin
- fatuous
- fatuous: see fade
- fatuous (adj.)
- "foolish, stupid," 1530s, from Latin fatuus "foolish, insipid, silly;" which is of uncertain origin. Buck suggests originally "stricken" in the head. But de Vaan says from Proto-Italic *fatowo- "of speech," from the PIE root of fame (n.). [I]f we connect the fact that Fatuus is said to be an alternative name for Faunus, and that he predicted the future, and that this god is attested on an Etruscan mirror as Fatuvs in a clear oracular function (Weiss 2007b), we may venture a derivation from forfor 'to say' (Untermann 2000). The name of the god would then have come to be used pejoratively as 'silly'. [de Vaan] Related: Fatuously; fatuousness.
Example
- 1. It should drop the fatuous targeting of pay , shadow banking and rating agencies .
- 2. The assumption that such violence afflicts only the poor or deserving is both fatuous and misguided .
- 3. Bredan perceived the document-which advocated abolition of private property and the imposition of " democratic rule " by " popular committees " - as fatuous and incomprehensible .
- 4. At least here in britain our energy secretary , chris huhne , has so far refrained from saying anything so fatuous ; although how he is going to persuade our german and french-owned electricity companies to build the nuclear power plants needed to keep britain 's lights on will be more of a puzzle than ever .