What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Silly vs Cilly - What's the difference?

silly | cilly |

As nouns the difference between silly and cilly

is that silly is a silly person; a fool while cilly is any predictable facet of the Enigma Machine cipher due to operator error or laziness, whose existence helped the Allies to break the code.

As an adjective silly

is pitiable; deserving of compassion; helpless.

silly

English

Adjective

(er)
  • (label) Pitiable; deserving of compassion; helpless.
  • * 1590 , (Edmund Spenser), (The Faerie Queene) , I.vi:
    • A silly man, in simple weedes forworne, / And soild with dust of the long dried way; / His sandales were with toilesome trauell torne, / And face all tand with scorching sunny ray
  • * (Edmund Spenser) (c.1552–1599)
    • After long storms with which my silly bark was tossed sore.
  • * (Samuel Taylor Coleridge) (1772-1834)
    • The silly buckets on the deck.
  • (label) Simple, unsophisticated, ordinary; rustic, ignorant.
  • * 1633 , (John Donne), "Sapho to Philænis":
    • For, if we justly call each silly man'' / A ''little island , What shall we call thee than?
  • * (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
    • A fourth man, in a silly habit.
  • * (John Milton) (1608-1674)
    • All that did their silly thoughts so busy keep.
  • Foolish, showing a lack of good sense and wisdom; frivolous, trifling.
  • Irresponsible, showing irresponsible behaviors.
  • Semiconscious, witless.
  • (label) Of a fielding position, very close to the batsman; closer than short.
  • Simple, not intelligent, unrefined.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1935, author= George Goodchild
    • , title=Death on the Centre Court, chapter=1 , passage=“Anthea hasn't a notion in her head but to vamp a lot of silly mugwumps. She's set her heart on that tennis bloke
  • (label) Happy; fortunate; blessed.
    • (Chaucer)
  • (label) Harmless; innocent; inoffensive.
  • * (Edmund Spenser) (c.1552–1599)
    • The silly virgin strove him to withstand.
  • * Robynson (More's Utopia)
    • A silly , innocent hare murdered of a dog.

    Derived terms

    * sillily (adverb) * silly season

    Antonyms

    * ("playful"): pious

    Synonyms

    * ("playful"): charming

    Noun

    (sillies)
  • (colloquial) A silly person; a fool.
  • (colloquial) A mistake.

    • Anagrams

    * * * 1000 English basic words

    cilly

    English

    Noun

    (cillies)
  • (cryptography, dated) Any predictable facet of the cipher due to operator error or laziness, whose existence helped the Allies to break the code.
  • * 2000 , Simon Singh, The Code Book
    • Another type of cilly was the repeated use of the same message key, perhaps the initials of the operator's girlfriend...
  • * 2002 , Ronald L Krutz, Russell Dean Vines, The CISSP Prep Guide: Gold Edition?
    • Answer c is a reference to a cilly , which was a three-character message key used in the German Enigma machine.
  • * 2005 , Brian J Winkel, Cipher A Deavours, David Kahn, Louis Kruh, The German Enigma cipher machine
    • Taunt describes the work involved in breaking Enigma messages, cribs, cillies , the Herivel tip, help from Bombes and more.
  • * 2006 , Rebecca Ann Ratcliff, Delusions of intelligence: Enigma, Ultra and the end of secure ciphers?
    • By 1944, cillies had already become rare; hence, Bletchley Park had already found other breaks into the Enigma nets.
  • * 2007 , Friedrich Ludwig Bauer, Decrypted secrets: methods and maxims of cryptology?
    • Cillies resulted from a combination of two different mistakes in a multi-part message by some Enigma operators.