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tomfool

[tom-fool]
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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR tomfool ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a grossly foolish or stupid person; a silly fool.

adjective

being or characteristic of a tomfool.

Origin of tomfool

1325–75; Middle English Thome fole Tom the fool
Related formstom·fool·ish, adjectivetom·fool·ish·ness, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for tomfool

crazy, lunatic, simple, loony, stupid, zany, absurd, silly, jerky, irrational, clod, dunce, stooge, blockhead, victim, lightweight, bore, cretin, nerd, dolt

Examples from the Web for tomfool

Historical Examples of tomfool

  • That tomfool letter we sent ruined whatever chance I had left.

  • Then aloud in Spanish: "What's the good of all that tomfool business?"

    Lone Pine

    R. B. (Richard Baxter) Townshend

  • Go and fetch the money and the tomfool paint-box thing that you say he had it in.

    "Carrots:"

    Mrs. Molesworth

  • And think of that tomfool of a Tommy-Bill-beg sending the man to me.

  • "I'll stop all night in your tomfool wood and up your tomfool trees," he said.

    The Trees of Pride

    G.K. Chesterton

British Dictionary definitions for tomfool

tomfool

noun

  1. a fool
  2. (as modifier)tomfool ideas
Derived Formstomfoolish, adjectivetomfoolishness, noun

Word Origin for tomfool

C14: from tom 1 + fool 1
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for tomfool
n.

"buffoon, clown," 1640s, from Middle English Thom Foole, personification of a mentally deficient man (mid-14c.), see Tom + fool (n.).

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper