The word tomfoolery owes a debt to one Thome Fole, but just who that Mr. Fole was is unclear. A court jester identified as Thome Fole was employed at Durham Abbey in the 14th century, but the record is unclear about whether Thome Fole was the given name of this particular performer, or if the name was applied as a generic moniker to jesters. Regardless, Thome Fole eventually evolved into tomfool, which was in use as a noun referring to any notable fool by the early 17th century, and as an adjective describing such fools by the mid-18th century. Tomfoolery as a term for playful or foolish behavior didn’t come into use until the early 19th century, but it’s proven to be of far more use to English speakers than tomfool.
There was a lot of tomfoolery going on behind the scenes.
the open bar may have had something to do with the tomfoolery at the wedding reception
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Last year, in response to some political parodies that used images created by artificial intelligence, including one that pilloried Vice President Kamala Harris, the Legislature passed and Newsom signed two measures to outlaw such tomfoolery.—Dan Walters, Mercury News, 5 Sep. 2025 Be careful and look out for more of your mom's tomfoolery.—Charna Flam, People.com, 25 Aug. 2025 For instance, in between Avi’s 2004 plane ride that starts the episode’s main arc and its last-second flash-forward to 2022, the premiere revels in the rapid wordplay of a gentile girlfriend meeting a vibrant Jewish family and the general tomfoolery of a jubilant bar mitzvah.—Ben Travers, IndieWire, 22 Aug. 2025 Fortunately, there are far more people in important positions who don’t want any part of this tomfoolery.—Stewart Mandel, New York Times, 20 Aug. 2025 See All Example Sentences for tomfoolery
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