Synonyms of fooling around

fooling around

verb

present participle of fool around

1

as in cutting up

to engage in attention-getting playful or boisterous behavior

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

Synonyms & Similar Words

• cutting up
• horsing around
• clowning (around)
• showing off
• acting up
• monkeying (around)
• reveling
• showboating
• carrying on
• roaring
• skylarking
• hotdogging
• misbehaving
• cavorting
• capering
• romping
• frisking
• gamboling
• larking
• rollicking
• frolicking
• roughhousing
• carousing
• mafficking
• wassailing
• disporting

2

as in fiddling (around)

to spend time in aimless activity

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

Synonyms & Similar Words

• fiddling (around)
• playing
• goofing (around)
• puttering (around)
• pottering (around)
• messing around
• monkeying (around)
• hanging about
• kicking around
• hanging (around or out)
• trifling
• doodling
• fribbling
• horsing around
• clowning (around)
• lounging
• idling
• diddling (with)
• loafing
• dawdling
• lolling
• tinkering
• dallying
• dillydallying

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• setting (to)
• settling (down)
• buckling (down)
• knuckling down

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of fooling around

Zeus did not approve of his daughter fooling around with this mortal roughneck hunter and put out a hit on Orion. — Mike Lynch, Twin Cities, 8 Mar. 2026

The transition was rough for Ansari, who wasn’t fluent in English and often got in trouble for fooling around in school. — Los Angeles Times, 7 Feb. 2026

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