noun
Synonym Usage
See boorish ( def. ).
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of oaf
1615–25; variant of auf, Middle English alfe, Old English ælf elf; cognate with German Alp nightmare
Explanation
An oaf is the boring, ill-mannered person you hope doesn't show up at your party and send the other guests running for the door. There are many ways to be an oaf: you can be loud, insensitive, rude, or just plain stupid. The word is related to the Old English word for "elf," and originally meant a changeling — an elf's child, a little darling not known for good manners — and you probably wouldn't want one of them at your party either.
Vocabulary lists containing oaf
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Whoops! Synonyms for "Clumsy"
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Vocabulary Video Contest (2013) - List 1
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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:
Going the opposite way, Justin Theroux, as the Jeff Bezos-like billionaire with the sensibility of an oaf, is awful from the start and his schtick gets more grating the more he presses.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 29, 2026
Before landing on the small ape of “The Legend of Ochi,” Saxon first considered a giant oaf and then something closer to the slumbering beast of Hayao Miyazaki’s “My Neighbor Totoro.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 15, 2025
The story that emerged was one of Bankman-Fried not as an oaf who made mistakes but as a mastermind who manipulated a whole scheme to defraud lots of people out of lots of money.
From Slate ● Mar. 6, 2024
But neither should you behave like an oaf.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 12, 2023
It sounded like a sweet memory, but Grandmother told it in a bitter tone, as if she knew, even then, that Frank would turn into a big lumbering oaf.
From "The Son of Neptune" by Rick Riordan
What they were doing with these oafs, I do not know, but it was astonishing.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 26, 2026
They’re confirmed oafs who, like their father, love saying the quiet part out loud, and who make themselves into fools jockeying for his attention.
From The Verge ● Aug. 14, 2018
BoJack, an ass of a horse, is right in the wheelhouse of Mr. Arnett, who has played self-centered oafs like Gob Bluth in “Arrested Development.”
From New York Times ● Jul. 20, 2016
But it sounds like when you leave the house, you’re beset by multiple well-meaning oafs who think pawing at you and bellowing in your ear is the best way to offer their assistance.
From Slate ● Jan. 5, 2016
They got to the stables, mounted the horses, and were away before the two oafs had untangled themselves.
From "The Door in the Wall" by Marguerite de Angeli
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.
