1
as in goofy
lacking in seriousness or maturity
the movie follows the harebrained antics of a pair of stoners who seem incapable of growing up
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in foolish
showing or marked by a lack of good sense or judgment
a harebrained idea to go for a hike in an area where grizzly bear attacks had recently been reported
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of harebrained
Things got even more harebrained further down the Reddit thread.
—
Justin Curto, Vulture, 6 Mar. 2025
For seven seasons, Ansari played Tom Haverford, the goofy Parks administrator who was constantly cooking up harebrained schemes to make a quick buck, or just entertain himself.
—Ryan Coleman, EW.com, 27 Mar. 2025
The cartoon comedy is everything that its title implies: The movie follows a cop who is half dog and half man, thanks to a harebrained (but lifesaving) surgery that leads a man and his faithful companion to be fused into one.
—EW.com, 2 Feb. 2025
In Dog Man, after a faithful police dog and his human police officer owner are injured together on the job, a harebrained but life-saving surgery fuses them together and Dog Man is born.
—Anthony D'alessandro, Deadline, 29 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for harebrained
Justin Curto, Vulture, 6 Mar. 2025
For seven seasons, Ansari played Tom Haverford, the goofy Parks administrator who was constantly cooking up harebrained schemes to make a quick buck, or just entertain himself.
—Ryan Coleman, EW.com, 27 Mar. 2025
The cartoon comedy is everything that its title implies: The movie follows a cop who is half dog and half man, thanks to a harebrained (but lifesaving) surgery that leads a man and his faithful companion to be fused into one.
—EW.com, 2 Feb. 2025
In Dog Man, after a faithful police dog and his human police officer owner are injured together on the job, a harebrained but life-saving surgery fuses them together and Dog Man is born.
—Anthony D'alessandro, Deadline, 29 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for harebrained
Recent Examples of Synonyms for harebrained
Adjective
-
Starring Cain and Teri Hatcher (as Lois Lane), the series put an interesting rom-com spin on the Superman mythos and, sure, the thing was pretty goofy.—
Brian Truitt,
USA Today,
11 July 2025
-
To most viewers, Nicolau — played with irresistible, lightly goofy guilelessness by Francisco Melo — will be a welcome new acquaintance.—
Guy Lodge,
Variety,
10 July 2025
Adjective
-
The Marlins would be foolish to trade away an ace with affordable team control at his lowest value ever.—
Zach Pressnell,
MSNBC Newsweek,
13 July 2025
-
Schulman’s characters make enough foolish and self-indulgent choices to fill a volume twice the size of this slim one.—
Book Marks
July 11,
Literary Hub,
11 July 2025
Adjective
-
This perky, self-aware, sarcastic and downright silly show caters to both the more traditional Goodspeed audiences.—
Christopher Arnott,
Hartford Courant,
14 July 2025
-
Green Lantern is earnest and bright and, yeah, incredibly silly and a little embarrassing.—
Tim Grierson,
Vulture,
11 July 2025
Adjective
-
And some stupid Republicans, and foolish Republicans, fall into the net.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
20 July 2025
-
The film ends with Lady Susan setting herself up in a kind of throuple, although one member of the ménage is too stupid to be so informed.—
Tom Gliatto,
People.com,
19 July 2025
Adjective
-
Go with the flow, but not toward the beach: Trying to swim directly toward the beach when caught in a rip current is futile and exhausting.—
NC Weather Bot,
Charlotte Observer,
6 July 2025
-
This group saw military responses as futile, as Iran was assumed to have escalation dominance.—
JAMES JEFFREY,
Foreign Affairs,
4 July 2025
Adjective
-
From the vantage point of 2025, this appears as absurd as suggesting that women’s soccer matches should be 70 minutes instead of 90, the same as in the men’s game.—
Charlie Eccleshare,
New York Times,
12 July 2025
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The French super powerhouse has taken teams part since winning the UEFA Champions League crown on May 24, outscoring its foes by an absurd 21-1 margin.—
Michael Lewis,
Forbes.com,
12 July 2025
Adjective
-
The game was a lot like that scene, a giddy kaleidoscope of touchdowns and fun.—
Scott Fowler,
Charlotte Observer,
16 July 2025
-
The broad market rode a giddy melt-up in mega-cap tech right into the second week of July 2024 before at first a radical internal rotation and then a broader pullback generated the only serious setback of that year.—
Michael Santoli,
CNBC,
12 July 2025
Adjective
-
Amanda learned in like 10 seconds, which is insane.—
Scott Roxborough,
The Hollywood Reporter,
24 Mar. 2025
-
The emu egg—a two pound, eight-inch ovoid with a sultry teal shell gently speckled in pale green—seemed like just the right absurdist final flourish for an already insane endeavor.—
Helen Rosner,
The New Yorker,
23 Mar. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Harebrained.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/harebrained. Accessed 29 Jul. 2025.
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