fool around

verb

variants or chiefly British fool about

fooled around; fooling around; fools around

intransitive verb

1

: to behave in a way that is not very serious

When it comes to safety, we don't fool around.

often, specifically : to spend time idly, aimlessly, or frivolously

Later in the day, the three of us were fooling around, waiting for Mr. Michaels to get class started.

—Marilyn Reynolds

2

: to engage in casual sexual activity

She found out that her partner had been fooling around on her. [=having sex with someone else]

see also fool around with

Synonyms

• horse around
• cut up
• clown (around)
• show off
• monkey (around)
• act up

Examples of fool around in a Sentence

quit fooling around on the jungle gym, or you'll get hurt

we fooled around outdoors for a while, then went in to get some work done

Recent Examples on the Web

Gisin hopes that by fooling around with measurements of these more exotic states, physicists will come to better understand the role of measurement in general. —Quanta Magazine, 8 Aug. 2025

Those have come from two players: Adrian Morejon of the San Diego Padres, who throws an odd knuckleball-changeup hybrid about 1 percent of the time, and Jonah Bride of the Minnesota Twins, an infielder fooling around with the knuckler in blowouts. —Cody Stavenhagen, New York Times, 19 June 2025

As Molly and Guy start to fool around, things get hot and heavy, but Ernie has a job to do. —Erin Qualey, Vulture, 7 Apr. 2025

Plotwise, four teens who grew up with technology and like to fool around on their laptops invading various verboten sites and having a great time doing it one day happen upon a bright idea. —Pete Hammond, Deadline, 8 Mar. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1837, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for fool around

• aboveground
• battleground
• belowground
• paperbound
• turnaround
• ultrasound
• underground
• wraparound
• abound
• aground
• astound
• background