Comparative form; more foolishly bold or reckless; showing more lack of proper caution or fear.
Fool plus hardy (from Old Norse 'harðr', meaning hard or bold). Foolhardy emerged in the 1500s combining fool with hardy to create the paradoxical idea of boldness that is foolish. Foolhardier is the comparative.
Foolhardy is a genuinely smart word—it describes a real psychological pattern where confidence and recklessness accidentally become the same thing, which is why it appears constantly in historical accounts of failed explorations and disasters.
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