noun
Related Words
See boorish ( def. ).
Other Word Forms
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
May the 4th Be With You: Star Wars Words
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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.
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
But neither should you behave like an oaf.
From Washington Post • Jan. 12, 2023
I just have the sense that life is just this clumsy oaf.
From Salon • Dec. 19, 2022
And the word racist, to them, conjures, if not a tobacco-spitting oaf, then something just as fantastic—an ore, troll, or gorgon.
From "Between the World and Me" by Ta-Nehisi Coates
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.
