fool around
Idioms-
Also, monkey around . Engage in idle or casual activity, putter. For example, Jim loved to fool around with his computer , or She was monkeying around with some figures in hopes of balancing the budget . [Second half of 1800s]
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Engage in frivolous activity, waste time. For example, Instead of studying, he spends all his spare time fooling around . Also see fool away .
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Engage in flirting or casual sexual acts; also, engage in adultery. For example, He caught the two teenagers fooling around in the basement . [1830s]
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.
"He'd fool around at the reception desk and would check patients in," he says.
From BBC ● Apr. 14, 2026
Chief among them is that Mother Nature didn’t fool around in 2023 — we have endured 25 natural disasters this year with individual price tags of more than $1 billion.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 20, 2023
Swallows, with their forked black tails, fool around in the wind by the raw bluff face, just beneath a stretch of floppy, black, muddy pipe that used to be underground.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 28, 2023
“You shouldn’t fool around with this,” one interview subject tells her.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 4, 2021
“Why do you fool around with these things?”
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
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.
