buffoon
Other forms: buffoons
A buffoon is someone whose ridiculous behavior is a source of amusement to others. People you might call a buffoon are a political rival or the guy at work who tells silly jokes at office parties.
The noun buffoon has changed its spelling over the years, but not really its meaning. In Middle French, it was bouffon, which came from the Italian buffone, meaning "jester." The original root is the Latin buffare. Think of the stereotypical court jester, the person who makes jokes and falls about trying to make the king laugh — he's paid to be a buffoon.
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a person who amuses others by ridiculous behavior
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synonyms:
clown, goof, goofball, merry andrew
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examples:
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Emmett Kelly
United States circus clown (1898-1979)
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types:
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harlequin
a clown or buffoon (after the Harlequin character in the commedia dell'arte)
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fool, jester, motley fool
a professional clown employed to entertain a king or nobleman in the Middle Ages
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whiteface
a clown whose face is covered with white make-up
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zany
a buffoon in one of the old comedies; imitates others for ludicrous effect
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Emmett Kelly
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a rude or vulgar fool
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Vocabulary lists containing buffoon
In this first book of the mystery series, seventh-grader Samantha Jo Keyes looks through her binoculars and sees a burglary at the Heavenly Hotel.
In this first book of The Reckoners series, eighteen-year-old David Charleston looks for weaknesses in the supernaturally powerful Epics so that he can avenge the murder of his father and restore freedom to the city that used to be Chicago.
Mr. Lemoncello invites teams from across the U.S. to compete in a first-ever Library Olympics, where they must solve puzzles and decipher clues to become champions of literature and his library.
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