1
as in lunatic
a person who lacks good sense or judgment
only a fool would attempt to climb that mountain unprepared
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in clown
a person formerly kept in a royal or noble household to amuse with jests and pranks
a king's fool could get away with saying things that others in the palace couldn't
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3
as in sucker
a person with a strong and habitual liking for something
I'm a fool for ice cream
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in foolish
showing or marked by a lack of good sense or judgment
he's always got some fool plan or other
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
1
as in to deceive
to cause to believe what is untrue
I fooled him into thinking that we were driving to the store, not to his surprise birthday party
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in to joke
to make jokes
an edgy comedian fooling with an appreciative college audience
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of fool
Shreyas Laddha, Kansas City Star, 29 Oct. 2025
Filmmaking is flubbing the catch, and sometimes knowing the fool that's to blame is yourself.
—Susan Sontag, Vogue, 26 Oct. 2025
Alicia Geigel, Southern Living, 4 Nov. 2025
Anyone who predicted this Titans team to win more than four or five games was fooling themselves, and even those predictions are coming off over-optimistic.
—Nick Suss, Nashville Tennessean, 3 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for fool
Noun
Don’t let the scoreboard fool you.
—Shreyas Laddha, Kansas City Star, 29 Oct. 2025
Filmmaking is flubbing the catch, and sometimes knowing the fool that's to blame is yourself.
—Susan Sontag, Vogue, 26 Oct. 2025
Verb
The throw is crafted with acrylic, but don’t be fooled by its price; the intricate, woven yarn resembles that of chenille, with a buttery-smooth texture that feels luxuriously soft to the touch.
—Alicia Geigel, Southern Living, 4 Nov. 2025
Anyone who predicted this Titans team to win more than four or five games was fooling themselves, and even those predictions are coming off over-optimistic.
—Nick Suss, Nashville Tennessean, 3 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for fool
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fool
Noun
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Parents know these woke lunatics are bullies.—
Maia Pandey,
jsonline.com,
30 Oct. 2025
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But as Plemons so deftly plays him, Teddy doesn’t seem like a lunatic.—
Jake Coyle,
Boston Herald,
24 Oct. 2025
Noun
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The sibling filmmaking duo spent most of the 2010s making a colossal two-part movie adaptation of King’s 1,138-page horror opus about a shapeshifting clown who terrorizes the small town of Derry, Maine.—
Christian Zilko,
IndieWire,
6 Nov. 2025
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The woman dressed as a spooky ringmaster while her husband played the part of a creepy clown.—
Jordan Greene,
PEOPLE,
4 Nov. 2025
Noun
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As the humpback plunges back below the surface the remoras, also known as sucker fish, return to the whale, sticking their landings with the timing and precision of Olympic gymnasts.—
CNN Money,
CNN Money,
8 Nov. 2025
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Remove any canes that are crossing or rubbing against each other, as well as any suckers that have formed.—
Karen Brewer Grossman,
Southern Living,
28 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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That was questionable, but not egregiously foolish, in our view, because of the limited amount of time left.—
Barry Jackson,
Miami Herald,
3 Nov. 2025
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Another agent pointed to how contractions in post-strike, post-pandemic Hollywood have decimated the theater business, creating new opportunities that Netflix would be foolish to pass up.—
Chris Lee,
Vulture,
3 Nov. 2025
Verb
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Bode’s comment was strictly in reference to the character of the Wizard of Oz, who uses propaganda to manipulate and deceive his subjects in Wicked.—
Hannah Dailey,
Billboard,
7 Nov. 2025
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As Venus enters Scorpio, your love life appears quiet, but appearances can be deceiving!—
USA TODAY,
USA Today,
6 Nov. 2025
Verb
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Doughnuts and coffees in hand, some of them joked about seeing each other look happy for the first time in weeks.—
Elliott Wenzler,
Denver Post,
8 Nov. 2025
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The director playfully joked not to ask him what Camazotz is, as many views and fans have started theorizing how that name could tie into the show.—
Dessi Gomez,
Deadline,
7 Nov. 2025
Noun
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Learn more about management options and which food plants are most susceptible to this insect in our harlequin bug on vegetables web page.—
Miri Talabac,
Baltimore Sun,
16 Apr. 2025
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Pity the poor actor who has to co-star opposite a 150-pound harlequin Great Dane.—
Peter Rainer,
Christian Science Monitor,
3 Apr. 2025
Noun
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Letterboxd is a social-media platform dedicated to film lovers, allowing users to log movies, review them, create lists, and follow other cinephiles.—
Lydia Patrick,
MSNBC Newsweek,
10 Nov. 2025
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The show’s second season, based on Mona Kasten’s book Save You, follows the first installment, which found James Beaufort (Damien Hardung) and Ruby Bell (Harriet Herbig-Matten) go from enemies to lovers as the both worked hard to get into Oxford.—
Dessi Gomez,
Deadline,
10 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Fool.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fool. Accessed 13 Nov. 2025.
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