bozo
Americannoun
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bozos
plural
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a fellow, especially a big, strong, stupid fellow.
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a rude, obnoxious, or annoying person.
Two or three bozos tried to cut in ahead of the rest of us in the supermarket line.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of bozo
An Americanism dating back to 1915–20; of uncertain origin
Explanation
A bozo is a goofy, ridiculous person. A frustrated preschool teacher might beg her students to sit down and stop acting like bozos. You can use the informal term bozo to describe someone who's harmlessly goofy, or alternately, someone who is annoyingly rude. If your candidate for President loses, you might say: "How could all those bozos vote for that guy?" While the exact origin of bozo is unknown, the word became strongly associated with foolishness thanks to the popular TV clown named Bozo who entertained American children from about 1950 until 2001.
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:
And on the other hand, I am exactly the kind of gullible bozo who’s liable to find himself up to his neck in those very conspiracies.
From Salon ● Feb. 7, 2025
At the same time, it is so prevalent that any time one vest-wearing bozo gets nabbed, three more spring up in his place.
From Slate ● Jun. 21, 2022
"I also know that ur a bozo," he answered.
From Fox News ● Nov. 19, 2021
“Like every other bozo back in the ’60s, I grew my hair and played guitar and put a band together,” Mr. Mull explained.
From New York Times ● Sep. 26, 2018
“Anyone ever go splat?” some pale bozo with a neon drink asks the people running the ride, and then he laughs with his bozo friends.
From "Challenger Deep" by Neal Shusterman
“We all looked like a bunch of bozos coming into pit because we don’t know how to prep the track.”
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 17, 2022
It was the dumbest kind of bravado, and I had to hope that this woman would see right through these bozos.
From New York Times ● Mar. 18, 2022
Each episode is basically just an excuse to watch Robinson and Richardson tool around like bozos.
From The Guardian ● May 5, 2020
“If Congress wants to help athletes, they should deal directly with the athletes, not go through these bozos at the USOC,” Manly said.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 26, 2020
Don Blankenship is one of the country’s great bozos of our time.
From Slate ● Jul. 27, 2018
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.
