fool

¹ American  

[fool] / ful /

noun

1. 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

2. a professional jester, formerly kept by a person of royal or noble rank for amusement.

   the court fool.

   Synonyms:

   clown, zany

3. a person who has been tricked or deceived into appearing or acting silly or stupid.

   to make a fool of someone.

4. an ardent enthusiast who cannot resist an opportunity to indulge an enthusiasm.

   He's just a dancing fool.

5. a weak-minded or idiotic person.

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verb (used with object)

1. to trick, deceive, or impose on.

   They tried to fool him.

   Synonyms:

   gudgeon, dupe, cozen, hoax, gull, cheat, hoodwink, delude

verb (used without object)

1. to act like a fool; joke; play.

2. to jest; pretend; make believe.

   I was only fooling.

verb phrase

1. fool away to spend foolishly, as time or money; squander.

   to fool away the entire afternoon.

2. fool around (with)

   1. 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.

   2. 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.

   3. 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.

   4. to be sexually promiscuous, especially to engage in adultery.

      He's out fooling around while she's at home sick with the flu.

idioms

1. be nobody's fool, to be wise or shrewd.

fool ² American  

[fool] / ful /

noun

British Cooking.

1. a dish made of fruit, scalded or stewed, crushed and mixed with cream or the like.

   gooseberry fool.

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fool ¹ British  

/ fuːl /

noun

1. a person who lacks sense or judgement

2. a person who is made to appear ridiculous

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

4. obsolete an idiot or imbecile

   the village fool

5. to play the fool or behave irritatingly

6. a wise or sensible person

7. to deliberately act foolishly; indulge in buffoonery

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verb

1. (tr) to deceive (someone), esp in order to make him or her look ridiculous

2. informal (intr; foll by with, around with, or about with) to act or play (with) irresponsibly or aimlessly

   to fool around with a woman

3. (intr) to speak or act in a playful, teasing, or jesting manner

4. to squander; fritter

   he fooled away a fortune

5. to move or proceed in a leisurely way

adjective

1. informal short for foolish

fool ² British  

/ fuːl /

noun

1. a dessert made from a purée of fruit with cream or custard

   gooseberry fool

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fool More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing fool

• foolish
• make a fool of
• no fool like an old fool
• nobody's fool
• not suffer fools gladly
• play the fool
• take for (a fool)

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Other Word Forms

• unfooled adjective
• unfooling adjective
• well-fooled adjective

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!"

Example Sentences

They proceeded to buy and sell the token themselves to build a price history that would eventually fool Drift’s automated protocols into accepting the fake token as real collateral.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 15, 2026

Even a fool could read the determination on the Bruins’ faces as they roared back from a 39-31 halftime deficit; they’d come so far together, but they so badly wanted to go further.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 29, 2026

Produced by Spanish musician El Guincho - responsible for cutting-edge tracks by Rosalía and Charli XCX - it finds the band returning to their roots and "acting the fool again", while asserting their global dominance.

From BBC • Mar. 20, 2026

Falsified documents were used to hide the trail to China, and non-working "dummy" replica servers were kept in stock to fool auditors, according to the indictment.

From Barron's • Mar. 20, 2026

“Were you trying to fool me?” said the whale.

From "The Wild Robot Protects" by Peter Brown

Related Words

• ass
• boob
• buffoon
• idiot
• jerk
• moron
• nitwit
• stooge
• sucker
• twit