fool
1 Americannoun
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a silly or stupid person; a person who lacks judgment or sense.
- Synonyms:
- sap, saphead, booby, nincompoop, ninny, dunderhead, ignoramus, numbskull, blockhead, dunce, dolt, simpleton
- Antonyms:
- genius
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a professional jester, formerly kept by a person of royal or noble rank for amusement.
the court fool.
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a person who has been tricked or deceived into appearing or acting silly or stupid.
to make a fool of someone.
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an ardent enthusiast who cannot resist an opportunity to indulge an enthusiasm.
He's just a dancing fool.
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a weak-minded or idiotic person.
verb (used with object)
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fools,
present (3rd person singular)
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fooled,
past participle, past
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fooling
present participle
verb (used without object)
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fools,
present (3rd person singular)
-
fooled,
past participle, past
-
fooling
present participle
-
to act like a fool; joke; play.
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to jest; pretend; make believe.
I was only fooling.
verb phrase
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fool away to spend foolishly, as time or money; squander.
to fool away the entire afternoon.
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fool around (with)
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to putter aimlessly; waste time.
She fooled around all through school.
I fooled around with painting for a bit, but never got anywhere with it.
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Also fool with to handle or play with idly or carelessly.
She was hurt while fooling around with a loaded gun.
It's unkind to fool with someone's affections.
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to flirt or have casual sexual encounters.
You should know better than to fool around with someone you work with.
They're just fooling around–I don't think the relationship is going to go anywhere.
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to be sexually promiscuous, especially to engage in adultery.
He's out fooling around while she's at home sick with the flu.
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idioms
noun
noun
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a person who lacks sense or judgement
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a person who is made to appear ridiculous
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(formerly) a professional jester living in a royal or noble household
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obsolete an idiot or imbecile
the village fool
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to play the fool or behave irritatingly
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a wise or sensible person
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to deliberately act foolishly; indulge in buffoonery
verb
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(tr) to deceive (someone), esp in order to make him or her look ridiculous
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informal (intr; foll by with, around with, or about with) to act or play (with) irresponsibly or aimlessly
to fool around with a woman
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(intr) to speak or act in a playful, teasing, or jesting manner
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to squander; fritter
he fooled away a fortune
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to move or proceed in a leisurely way
adjective
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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foolsimple
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foolssimple
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have fooledperfect
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has fooledperfect
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am foolingprogressive
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are foolingprogressive
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is foolingprogressive
-
have been foolingperfect progressive
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has been foolingperfect progressive
Past
-
fooledsimple
-
had fooledperfect
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was foolingprogressive
-
were foolingprogressive
-
had been foolingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of fool1
First recorded in 1225–75; Middle English fol, fool, from Old French fol, from Latin follis “bellows, bag”; cf. follis
Origin of fool2
First recorded in 1590–1600; probably special use of fool 1; cf. trifle ( def. ) (in the sense “a dessert consisting of custard and cake”
Explanation
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!"
Vocabulary lists containing fool
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Another risk is the rise of deepfakes – AI-made pictures and videos of people that look real – which can be used to fool the public.
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026
“You can’t fool the customer,” said Lance Trenary, chief executive of the roughly 350-unit restaurant chain.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 26, 2026
They’re worth passing consideration, maybe, but you’d have to be a fool to bet your house on their accuracy.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026
But he cautioned that no system was fool proof, and that some women's support groups have in the past voiced concern that such systems might give a false sense of security.
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026
Someone was trying to fool him into thinking the Mona Lisa had been recovered.
From "The Mona Lisa Vanishes" by Nicholas Day
One AI lab insider sniffed: “We would be fools reacting to Karpian theatrics; he does well talking his own book.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 11, 2026
“We as carbon-based fools will spend our money empathizing and caring about silicon-based creations,” he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 28, 2026
Supposed experts have been made to look like fools.
From BBC ● Mar. 14, 2026
Such reasoning can become textbook Greater Fool Theory — investors paying foolish prices with the expectation that greater fools than they will pay even higher prices.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 6, 2026
“This is one of your fools, Your Majesty. He came here to find and capture the Nightingale.”
From Anya and the Nightingale by Sofiya Pasternack
A difficult job market appeared to show improvement near the end of summer with a surprisingly big increase in employment, but don’t be fooled: Hiring in the U.S. is still unusually tepid.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 29, 2026
Smartphones have fooled us into thinking that we curate what our screens show us.
From Salon ● Aug. 27, 2026
Don't be fooled by the number nine he wore on his back for Switzerland at the World Cup - he generally plays a lot deeper than that.
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026
The jury duty scam targeted David Schwind’s daughter, but initially fooled him, too.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
But Elizabeth was not for a moment fooled, and did not, for as long as she lived with her, fail to despise her aunt.
From "Go Tell It on the Mountain" by James Baldwin
It’s a disguise “Obsession” wears so well that it’s fooling people into thinking this perfectly adequate film marks the arrival of a new horror classic.
From Salon ● Jun. 4, 2026
Are we fooling ourselves to think our taxes matter to our moral responsibility?
From Slate ● May 11, 2026
He often moves his body in a way that looks like he is going to pass to one team-mate, before passing it to the spare man after fooling the defenders.
From BBC ● May 8, 2026
“If a high number of those children are not getting the follow-up care, we may just be fooling ourselves and checking a box,” Chung said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 4, 2026
That afternoon, in Egypt, she’d put her books down on the edge of the temple floor and Ken had been fooling around and knocked them off.
From "The Egypt Game" by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
