FOOLS Synonyms: 306 Similar and Opposite Words

fools 1 of 2

noun

plural of fool

as in lunatics

a person who lacks good sense or judgment only a fool would attempt to climb that mountain unprepared

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as in clowns

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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as in suckers

a person with a strong and habitual liking for something I'm a fool for ice cream

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as in maniacs

a person having or showing a severely disordered or abnormal state of mind he got out of serving in the army by successfully pretending to be a fool

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fools

2 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of fool

as in tricks

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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as in jokes

to make jokes an edgy comedian fooling with an appreciative college audience

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of fools

Noun

This is an ignoble war making monsters and fools out of its participants, and against the uncontrollable weapons that are dragons, everyone’s resolve is crumbling. — Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 18 June 2026 This game makes fools of us all. — Nick Miller, New York Times, 16 June 2026 One reason this war may linger is because most of the leaders of these countries and militias know that history has its eyes on them, and there will be a moral, political and economic accounting that will be devastating for each one of these fools. — Thomas L. Friedman, Mercury News, 16 June 2026 The American media look here like fools, as does the conspiratorial mirror image imagining a vast secret US operation. — Ben Smith, semafor.com, 15 June 2026 Flecks of mica and pyrite and who knows what, but only fools and greenhorns mistake it for gold. — John Archibald, Southern Living, 11 June 2026 As Rose’s impoverished yet imperious mother Ruth, Parson’s dry deliveries offer great comic ballast to this ship of fools. — Frank Rizzo, Variety, 13 Apr. 2026 Antisemitism is the socialism of fools, right? — Suzanne Schneider, The New York Review of Books, 25 Mar. 2026 Only fools would think differently. — ABC News, 15 Mar. 2026

Verb

Runway, Pika, and a dozen others can produce footage that fools the eye on first watch. — Sandy Carter, Forbes.com, 27 May 2026 What fools these non-OpenAI mortals must be. — Jim Cramer, CNBC, 15 Feb. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for fools

Noun

While sane Americans were celebrating the MLB All-Star Game in Philadelphia on Tuesday night, the lunatics in Portland, Oregon were cheering along as two men made out on a baseball field during a 'Heated Rivalry' theme night.

— Joe Kinsey OutKick, FOXNews.com, 15 July 2026
The lunatics are running the asylum.

— Eugenie Brinkema, ARTnews.com, 14 June 2026

Definition of lunatics

Noun

One morning during my stay, there were even clowns buzzing about—a thrill to receive a balloon poodle alongside my morning flat white.

— Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 29 July 2026
Perhaps most astonishingly, the movie manages to make creepy clowns — that shopworn trope — genuinely frightening again.

— Declan Gallagher, Entertainment Weekly, 7 July 2026

Definition of clowns

Noun

The odd thing about this choice is that, although the DSA’s platform is indeed chock-full of maniacal proposals, on this particular idea, the maniacs have a point.

— Jonathan Chait, The Atlantic, 22 July 2026
Because Sidney Prescott, now Evans, exists only in relationship to Ghostface, the costume worn by many different knife-wielding maniacs over the years, starting with her high school boyfriend.

— Katie Walsh, Twin Cities, 3 Mar. 2026

Definition of maniacs

Verb

In effect, RedHook tricks the phone into connecting to its own powerful debugging controls, giving the malware deeper access without a computer.

— Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 20 July 2026
Exterior walls, similarly, may be warmer than an interior wall, which tricks the thermostat and causes the AC to run longer than necessary.

— Timothy Dale, The Spruce, 15 July 2026

Definition of tricks

Noun

Add in the textural blend of crunch from the nuts and chewy from the pineapple, and this has quickly become my go-to midday desk snack.

— Alaina Chou, Bon Appetit Magazine, 1 Aug. 2026
Nearly half of the country’s vegetables and more than three-quarters of its fruits and nuts come from California, according to the state.

— Dakota Smith, Los Angeles Times, 30 July 2026

Definition of nuts

Noun

Like any public hearing, there were a few jokers who had some strange outbursts, but the majority of the over a dozen speakers weren’t satisfied with Gower’s presentation and used their times to ask questions of the owners as to what has taken so long with this project.

— Brian Welk, IndieWire, 12 May 2026
Students are required to bring two full decks of cards including the jokers.

— Kris Slugg, San Diego Union-Tribune, 27 Jan. 2026