fool

fool (f

1. One who is deficient in judgment, sense, or understanding.

2. One who acts unwisely on a given occasion: I was a fool to have quit my job.

3. One who has been tricked or made to appear ridiculous; a dupe: They made a fool of me by pretending I had won.

4. Informal A person with a talent or enthusiasm for a certain activity: a dancing fool; a fool for skiing.

5. A member of a royal or noble household who provided entertainment, as with jokes or antics; a jester.

6. One who subverts convention or orthodoxy or varies from social conformity in order to reveal spiritual or moral truth: a holy fool.

7. A dessert made of stewed or puréed fruit mixed with cream or custard and served cold.

8. Archaic A mentally deficient person; an idiot.

v. fooled, fool·ing, fools

v.tr.

1. To deceive or trick; dupe: "trying to learn how to fool a trout with a little bit of floating fur and feather" Charles Kuralt.

2. To confound or prove wrong; surprise, especially pleasantly: We were sure they would fail, but they fooled us.

v.intr.

1. Informal

a. To speak or act facetiously or in jest; joke: I was just fooling when I said I had to leave.

b. To behave comically; clown.

c. To feign; pretend: He said he had a toothache but he was only fooling.

2. To engage in idle or frivolous activity.

3. To toy, tinker, or mess: shouldn't fool with matches.

adj. Informal

Foolish; stupid: off on some fool errand or other.

Phrasal Verbs:

fool around Informal

1. To engage in idle or casual activity; putter: was fooling around with the old car in hopes of fixing it.

2. To engage in frivolous activity; make fun.

3. To engage in casual, often promiscuous sexual acts.

fool away

To waste (time or money) foolishly; squander: fooled away the week's pay on Friday night.

Idiom:

play/act the fool

1. To act in an irresponsible or foolish manner.

2. To behave in a playful or comical manner.

[Middle English fol, from Old French, from Late Latin follis, windbag, fool, from Latin follis, bellows; see bhel-² in Indo-European roots.]

Word History: The pejorative nature of the term fool is strengthened by a knowledge of its etymology. Its source, the Latin word follis, meant "a bag or sack, a large inflated ball, a pair of bellows." Users of the word in Late Latin, however, saw a resemblance between the bellows or the inflated ball and a person who was what we would call "a windbag" or "an airhead." The word, which passed into English by way of French, is first recorded in English in a work written around the beginning of the 13th century with the sense "a foolish, stupid, or ignorant person."

fool ¹

Noun

1. a person who lacks sense or judgment

2. a person who is made to appear ridiculous

3. (formerly) a professional jester living in a royal or noble household

4. play or act the fool to deliberately act foolishly

Verb

1. to deceive (someone), esp. in order to make them look ridiculous

2. fool around or about with Informal to act or play with irresponsibly or aimlessly

3. to speak or act in a playful or jesting manner [Latin follis bellows]

fool ²

Noun

Chiefly Brit a dessert made from a puree of fruit with cream [perhaps from fool¹]

ThesaurusLegend: Synonyms Related Words Antonyms

Noun	1.	fool - a person who lacks good judgment muggins, saphead, tomfool, sap ass - a pompous fool buffoon, clown - a rude or vulgar fool flibbertigibbet, foolish woman - a female fool fucker - a stupid despised man bozo, cuckoo, fathead, goof, goofball, jackass, twat, zany, goose - a man who is a stupid incompetent fool meshuggeneh, meshuggener - (Yiddish) a crazy fool morosoph - a learned fool putz - (Yiddish) a fool; an idiot simpleton, simple - a person lacking intelligence or common sense wally - a silly and inept person; someone who is regarded as stupid
	2.	fool - a person who is gullible and easy to take advantage of chump, fall guy, gull, patsy, soft touch, sucker, mug, mark dupe, victim - a person who is tricked or swindled
	3.	fool - a professional clown employed to entertain a king or nobleman in the Middle Ages jester, motley fool merry andrew, buffoon, clown, goof, goofball - a person who amuses others by ridiculous behavior
Verb	1.	fool - make a fool or dupe of befool, gull cozen, deceive, delude, lead on - be false to; be dishonest with
	2.	fool - spend frivolously and unwisely; "Fritter away one's inheritance" fool away, fritter, fritter away, frivol away, dissipate, shoot ware, squander, consume, waste - spend extravagantly; "waste not, want not"
	3.	fool - fool or hoax; "The immigrant was duped because he trusted everyone"; "You can't fool me!" cod, dupe, put one across, put one over, slang, take in, gull, befool, put on kid, pull the leg of - tell false information to for fun; "Are you pulling my leg?" deceive, lead astray, betray - cause someone to believe an untruth; "The insurance company deceived me when they told me they were covering my house"
	4.	fool - indulge in horseplay; "Enough horsing around--let's get back to work!"; "The bored children were fooling about" fool around, horse around, arse around jest, joke - tell a joke; speak humorously; "He often jokes even when he appears serious" play - be at play; be engaged in playful activity; amuse oneself in a way characteristic of children; "The kids were playing outside all day"; "I used to play with trucks as a little girl"

fool

noun 1. simpleton, idiot, mug Brit. (slang) berk Brit. (slang) charlie Brit. (informal) silly, goose (informal) dope (informal) jerk (slang), chiefly U.S., Canad. dummy (slang) ass U.S., Canad. (taboo) clot Brit. (informal) plank Brit. (slang) sap (slang) wally (slang) illiterate, prat (slang) plonker (slang) coot, moron, nit (informal) git Brit. (slang) geek (slang) twit (informal), chiefly Brit. bonehead (slang) chump (informal) dunce, imbecile (informal) loon, clod, cretin, oaf, bozo U.S. (slang) dullard, dimwit (informal) ignoramus, dumbo (slang) jackass, dipstick Brit. (slang) gonzo (slang) schmuck U.S. (slang) dork (slang) nitwit (informal) dolt, blockhead, ninny, divvy Brit. (slang) bird-brain (informal) pillock Brit. (slang) halfwit, nincompoop, dweeb U.S. (slang) putz U.S. (slang) fathead (informal) weenie U.S. (informal) schlep U.S. (slang) eejit Scot., Irish dumb-ass (slang) pea-brain (slang) dunderhead, numpty Scot. (informal) doofus (slang), chiefly U.S. lamebrain (informal) mooncalf, thickhead, clodpate (archaic) nerd or nurd (slang) numbskull or numskull, twerp or twirp (informal) dorba or dorb Austral. (slang) bogan Austral. (slang) << OPPOSITE genius

noun 2. dupe, butt, mug Brit. (slang) sucker (slang) gull (archaic) stooge (slang) laughing stock, pushover (informal) fall guy (informal) chump (informal) greenhorn (informal) easy mark (informal)

noun 3. jester, comic, clown, harlequin, motley, buffoon, pierrot, court jester, punchinello, joculator or (fem.) joculatrix, merry-andrew

verb 4. deceive, cheat, mislead, delude, kid (informal) trick, take in, con (informal) stiff (slang) have (someone) on, bluff, hoax, dupe, beguile, gull (archaic) swindle, make a fool of, bamboozle, hoodwink, take for a ride (informal) put one over on (informal) play a trick on, pull a fast one on (informal)

fool around with something (Informal) play around with, play with, tamper with, toy with, mess around with, meddle with, trifle with, fiddle around with (informal) monkey around with

Translations