fool

play

noun \ ˈfül \

Definition of fool

1 :a person lacking in judgment or prudence

Only a fool would ride a motorcycle without wearing a helmet.

2 a :a retainer (see ¹retainer 1) formerly kept in great households to provide casual entertainment and commonly dressed in motley with cap, bells, and bauble

b :one who is victimized or made to appear foolish :dupe

History has made fools of many rash prophets.

3 a :a harmlessly deranged person or one lacking in common powers of understanding

b :one with a marked propensity or fondness for something

a dancing fool

a fool for candy

4 :a cold dessert of pureed fruit mixed with whipped cream or custard

See fool defined for English-language learners

See fool defined for kids

Examples of fool in a Sentence

those fools who ride motorcycles without wearing helmets
Only a fool would ask such a silly question.
You'd be a fool to believe what he tells you.
You're making yourself look like a fool.

Recent Examples of fool from the Web

More:Ask a Fool: Are there any stocks still undervalued now?

— matthew frankel, USA TODAY, "Ask a Fool: How can I protect myself from a stock market crash?," 24 Aug. 2017
As the saying goes, better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt—

— time, Time, "5 Reasons Things in North Korea Could Still Go Badly Wrong," 21 Aug. 2017
And for those who act a fool, the criticism rightfully comes with the territory.

— paul dehner jr., Cincinnati.com, "Walkthru: Carlos Dunlap, Michael Johnson make big impact," 14 Aug. 2017
Aside from being accomplished and prolific, both are refreshingly blunt, can wither enemies with a single line reading, and are chemically incapable of suffering fools.

— julie miller, Vanities, "Did You Know Maggie Smith and Samuel L. Jackson Are Friends?," 11 Aug. 2017
Aside from being accomplished and prolific, both are refreshingly blunt, can wither enemies with a single line reading, and are chemically incapable of suffering fools.

— vanityfair.com, "Did You Know Maggie Smith and Samuel L. Jackson Are Friends?," 11 Aug. 2017
Ignore the naive fools that think the government is suppose to make their lives better (that’s your job).

— jon talton, The Seattle Times, "Getting ahead: The allure and limitations of the bootstrap," 8 Aug. 2017
So, don’t let his Duke degree fool you — Miller is the worst kind of racist.

— sydney scott, Essence.com, "Stephen Miller And His White Nationalist Views Are Being Considered To Replace Scaramucci," 7 Aug. 2017
The second is only a fool or a madman would volunteer to get Alzheimer’s Disease, or anything like it.

— charles p. pierce, SI.com, "Head Games: The Moral Calculus of Football and CTE," 2 Aug. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'fool.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of fool

Middle English, from Anglo-French fol, from Late Latin follis, from Latin, bellows, bag; akin to Old High German bolla blister, balg bag — more at belly

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 13th century

See Words from the same year

fool Synonyms

Synonyms

berk [British], booby, charlie (also charley) [British], cuckoo, ding-a-ling, dingbat, ding-dong, dipstick, doofus [slang], featherhead, git [British], goose, half-wit, jackass, lunatic, mooncalf, nincompoop, ninny, ninnyhammer, nit [chiefly British], nitwit, nut, nutcase, simp, simpleton, turkey, yo-yo

Antonyms

nonfan

Related Words

daredevil; madman, madwoman; airhead, birdbrain, blockhead, cretin, dodo, dolt, donkey, dope, dork [slang], dumbbell, dummy, dunce, fathead, gander, goon, half-wit, idiot, ignoramus, imbecile, know-nothing, knucklehead, moron, numskull (or numbskull), pinhead, schlub (also shlub) [slang], schlump [slang], schnook [slang], stock; featherbrain, scatterbrain; butt, dupe, laughingstock, mockery, monkey; chump, loser, schlemiel (also shlemiel); character, codger, crackbrain, crackpot, crank, kook, oddball, screwball, weirdo

Near Antonyms

sage, thinker; brain, genius

fool

adjective

Definition of fool

:foolish, silly

barking its fool head off

See fool defined for English-language learners

Examples of fool in a Sentence

The dog was barking its fool head off.
Some fool driver kept trying to pass me!

Origin and Etymology of fool

see ¹fool

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 13th century

See Words from the same year

fool Synonyms

Synonyms

absurd, asinine, balmy, brainless, bubbleheaded, cockeyed, crackpot, crazy, cuckoo, daffy, daft, dippy, dotty, fatuous, featherheaded, foolish, half-baked, harebrained, half-witted, inept, insane, jerky, kooky (also kookie), loony (also looney), lunatic, lunkheaded, mad, nonsensical, nutty, preposterous, sappy, screwball, senseless, silly, simpleminded, stupid, tomfool, unwise, wacky (also whacky), weak-minded, witless, zany

Antonyms

judicious, prudent, sagacious, sage, sane, sapient, sensible, sound, wise

Related Words

airheaded, birdbrained, boobish, brain-dead, chowderheaded, chuckleheaded, clueless, dense, dim, dim-witted, doltish, dopey (also dopy), dorky [slang], dull, dumb, dunderheaded, empty-headed, fatuous, feebleminded, gormless [chiefly British], idiotic (also idiotical), imbecile (or imbecilic), knuckleheaded, lamebrain (or lamebrained), mindless, moronic, oafish, obtuse, opaque, pinheaded, simple, slow, slow-witted, soft, softheaded, thoughtless, thick, thickheaded, unintelligent, vacuous, witless; fallacious, illogical, invalid, irrational, nonrational, surd, unreasonable, unreasoning, unsound, weak; farcical, laughable, ludicrous, ridiculous; notional; buffoonish, clownish; ill-advised, unconsidered, unreasoned

Near Antonyms

brainy, bright, clever, intelligent, smart; logical, rational, reasonable, valid; well-advised

fool

verb

Definition of fool

intransitive verb

1 a :to behave foolishly

told the children to stop their fooling

—often used with around

b :to meddle, tamper, or experiment especially thoughtlessly or ignorantly

don't fool with that gun

—often used with around

2 a :to play or improvise a comic role

b :to speak in jest :joke

I was only fooling

3 :to contend or fight without serious intent or with less than full strength :toy

a dangerous man to fool with

transitive verb

1 :to make a fool of :deceive

2 obsolete :infatuate

3 :to spend on trifles or without advantage :fritter —used with away

See fool defined for English-language learners

Examples of fool in a Sentence

When she first told us that she was getting married, we thought she was fooling.
His disguise didn't fool anybody.
He really had me fooled.
Stop fooling yourself—she doesn't really love you.

Recent Examples of fool from the Web

SHOWSTOPPING STYLE Kate Robichaux (Harrison Cooney) Don’t be fooled.

— tara bradley connell, Orlando Signature, "Best-Dressed A-Listers in Orlando," 24 Aug. 2017
Internal documents showed tobacco manufacturers deliberately designed their light cigarettes to fool government smoke-testing machines.

— author: william wan, Alaska Dispatch News, "Big tobacco’s new cigarette is sleek, smokeless – but is it actually healthier?," 12 Aug. 2017
If you were fooled by the recent photo of U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin having an intense discussion at the G20 summit, don’t feel bad.

— giorgia guglielmi, Science | AAAS, "Top stories: Detecting fake images, Earth’s fastest animals, and why dogs are so friendly," 21 July 2017
If you were fooled by the recent photo of Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin having an intense discussion at the G20 summit, don’t feel bad.

— giorgia guglielmi, Science | AAAS, "Can you tell whether this photo has been manipulated?," 17 July 2017
Writing Djokovic off is the equivalent of responding to a Nigerian email scam. Don't be fooled.

— jon wertheim, SI.com, "50 parting thoughts from Wimbledon 2017," 15 July 2017
O.K., Will. Don’t be fooled by his learned-looking beard and his puffy, sad eyes.

— laura bradley, HWD, "Watch Late-Night Boogeyman Jon Stewart Crash Jimmy Kimmel Live!," 14 July 2017
But don’t be fooled by all of those self-deprecating one-liners.

— jennifer v. cole, Southern Living, "Dolly Parton: The Southern Living Interview," 11 July 2017
Many a climber has been fooled by Chugach crud, reaching out with hand or foot only to feel the rock disintegrate along an invisible fault line.

— vicky ho, Alaska Dispatch News, "On hikes, never trust a wet rock. In the Chugach, never trust a rock.," 1 July 2017

Origin and Etymology of fool

see ¹fool

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1593

See Words from the same year

fool Synonyms

Synonyms

bamboozle, beguile, bluff, buffalo, burn, catch, con, cozen, delude, dupe, fake out, deceive, gaff, gammon, gull, have, have on [chiefly British], hoax, hoodwink, hornswoggle, humbug, juggle, misguide, misinform, mislead, snooker, snow, spoof, string along, sucker, suck in, take in, trick

Antonyms

undeceive

Related Words

kid, put on, tease; bleed, cheat, chisel, defraud, diddle, euchre, flam, fleece, gyp, hustle, mulct, rook, shortchange, skin, squeeze, stick, sting, swindle

Near Antonyms

debunk, expose, reveal, show up, uncloak, uncover, unmask; disclose, divulge, tell, unveil; disabuse, disenchant, disillusion

FOOL Defined for English Language Learners

fool

play

noun

Definition of fool for English Language Learners

: a person who lacks good sense or judgment : a stupid or silly person
: a person who enjoys something very much
: a dessert made with cooked fruit and cream or a thick sauce

fool

verb

Definition of fool for English Language Learners

: to speak or act in a way that is not serious
: to make (someone) believe something that is not true : to trick (someone)

FOOL Defined for Kids

fool

play

noun \ ˈfül \

Definition of fool for Students

1 :a person without good sense or judgment

2 :jester

History for fool

In Latin the word follis meant “bag” or (in the plural form folles) “bellows.” In the late stage of Latin that developed into French, follis also took on the meaning “person without sense,” whose head seemed, like a bag or bellows, to be full of nothing but air. Follis became Old French fol, which was borrowed into English as fol, later spelled fool.

fool

verb

Definition of fool for Students

fooled; fooling

1 :to speak or act in a playful way or in fun :joke

We were only fooling.

2 :²trick

Don't let them fool you.

3 :to spend time in an aimless way

We fooled around in the playground before school.

4 :to play with or handle something carelessly

Don't fool with my science project.

Learn More about fool

See words that rhyme with fool Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for fool Spanish Central: Translation of fool Nglish: Translation of fool for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of fool for Arabic speakers Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about fool

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