fool
fools; fooled; fooling
In the Middle Ages, a fool was a clown or jester. Today, fools are simply silly people who clown around or lack common sense.
The original fools were clowns hired by the king for entertainment. They were actually witty and smart, but today's fools are not. When you call someone a fool, you either mean he's gullible or just a run-of-the-mill idiot. To fool also means to play a trick or hoax on someone, and fooling around is carelessly spending time on something silly. If someone doesn't believe something you said, you might defend yourself by saying, "I'm not fooling!"
Definitions of fool
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a person who lacks good judgment
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types:
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buffoon, clown
a rude or vulgar fool
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flibbertigibbet, foolish woman
a foolish, flighty, and overly talkative person
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bozo, cuckoo, fathead, goof, goofball, goose, zany
a man who is a stupid incompetent fool
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meshuggeneh, meshuggener
(Yiddish) a crazy fool
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morosoph
a learned fool
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putz
(Yiddish) a fool; an idiot
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wally
a silly and inept person; someone who is regarded as stupid
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a person who is gullible and easy to take advantage of
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a professional clown employed to entertain a king or nobleman in the Middle Ages
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synonyms:
jester, motley fool
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type of:
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buffoon, clown, goof, goofball, merry andrew
a person who amuses others by ridiculous behavior
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buffoon, clown, goof, goofball, merry andrew
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make a fool or dupe of
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fool or hoax“You can't fool me!”
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synonyms:
befool, cod, dupe, gull, put on, put one across, put one over, slang, take in
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types:
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kid, pull the leg of
tell false information to for fun
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type of:
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betray, deceive, lead astray
cause someone to believe an untruth
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kid, pull the leg of
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spend frivolously and unwisely
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synonyms:
dissipate, fool away, fritter, fritter away, frivol away, shoot
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indulge in horseplay“The bored children were fooling about”
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synonyms:
fool around, horse around
DISCLAIMER: These example sentences appear in various news sources and books to reflect the usage of the word ‘fool'.
Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Vocabulary.com or its editors.
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