tomfool
Americannoun
adjective
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of tomfool
1325–75; Middle English Thome fole Tom the fool
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.
Their own father, an amiable giant nearly seven foot tall, lacked the drive and ambition of his sons, and he refused to support this tomfool idea.
From "Boy: Tales of a Childhood" by Roald Dahl
![]()
A scamp and a scalawag and a tomfool, though, if you want to know.
From Man to Man by Gregory, Jackson
"Chief among them, why your tomfool brother—you call him your brother, I suppose?—brought me over here on a fool's errand."
From The Knave of Diamonds by Dell, Ethel M. (Ethel May)
O, that’s a different story!—What made you do it, you tomfool?
From The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 13 (of 25) by Stevenson, Robert Louis
Will you put that tomfool thing away, sir!
From Sappers and Miners The Flood beneath the Sea by Hurst, Hal
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.