fool
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /fuːl/
ipa: /fʉl/
ipa: /fʊu(l)/
homophone: full (accents with FOOT-GOOSE merger or full-fool merger)
homophone: fall (accents with fool-fall merger)
rhymes: -uːl
Forms: form: fools
Etymology: From Middle English fole (“fool”), from Old French fol (cf. modern French fou (“mad”)) from Latin follis. Doublet of fals and follis. Displaced native Old English dwæs.
Senses: examples: text: You were a fool to cross that busy road without looking.
text: The village fool threw his own shoes down the well.
text: Erasmus, [...] saide wiselie that experience is the common scholehouse of foles, and ill men: Men of witte and honestie, be otherwise instructed.
ref: a. 1569 (date written), Roger Ascham, edited by Margaret Ascham, The Scholemaster: Or Plaine and Perfite Way of Teaching Children, to Vnderstand, Write, and Speake, the Latin Tong, […], London: […] John Daye, […], published 1570, →OCLC:
text: No man is always a fool, every man is sometimes.
ref: 1748, [Samuel Richardson], “Letter LII”, in Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: […], volume IV, London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; […], →OCLC:
text: 'If I coloured at all, Mr Edward,' said Joe, 'which I didn't know I did, it was to think I should have been such a fool as ever to have any hope of her. She’s as far out of my reach as—as Heaven is.'
ref: 1841 February–November, Charles Dickens, “Barnaby Rudge. Chapter 13.”, in Master Humphrey’s Clock, volume III, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC:
text: If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
⁠Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools
ref: 1895, Rudyard Kipling, If—:
text: You're just a poor misguided fool
Who thinks they know what I should do
A line for me and a line for you
I lose my right to a point of view.
ref: 2001, Starsailor, “Poor Misguided Fool”:
text: And every time I'm meant to be acting sensible
You drift into my head
And turn me into a crumbling fool.
ref: 2008, Adele, Crazy for You:
text: I like that you're broken
Broken like me
Maybe that makes me a fool
ref: 2017 April 13, Mitchy Collins, Samantha Derosa, Christian Medice, “Broken”, in Finding It Hard to Smile, performed by Lovelytheband:
glosses: A person with poor judgment or little intelligence.
examples: 1896, Frederick Peterson IN Popular Science Monthly Volume 50 December 1896 , Idiots Savants
This court fool could say bright things on occasion, but his main use to the ladies and lords of the palace was to serve as victim to practical jokes, cruel, coarse, and vulgar enough to be appreciated perhaps in the Bowery.
glosses: A jester; a person whose role was to entertain a sovereign and the court (or lower personages).
topics: literature
media
publishing
glosses: A stock character typified by unintelligence, naïveté or lucklessness, usually as a form of comic relief; often used as a source of insight or pathos for the audience, as such characters are generally less bound by social expectations.
examples: text: Such clouds of nameless trouble cross
⁠All night below the darken’d eyes;
⁠With morning wakes the will, and cries,
‘Thou shalt not be the fool of loss.’
ref: 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto IV”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC:
glosses: Someone who has been made a fool of or tricked; dupe.
examples: text: Can they think me […] their fool or jester?
ref: 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […]”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC:
text: I'm a fool for the city.
ref: 1975, Foghat, "Fool for the City" (song), Fool for the City (album)
glosses: Someone who derives pleasure from something specified.
examples: text: Upon opening the door, Trech was suddenly drawn aback by the shocking presence of the armed goon standing directly in front of him. “Yo, what up fool? […]”
ref: 2010, G.C. Deuce, From the Gutter to the Grave: An American Hood Novel, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN, page 291:
text: “What up, fool?” he finally responded. “Not too much; fell asleep watching your boys get their asses kicked,” I told him, referring to the Carolina Cougars, the last team he played for before he got sick.
ref: 2012, Peron Long, Livin' Ain't Easy, Urban Books, →ISBN:
text: Fame leaves out the house and walks to the BP gas station on Alabama Avenue. On the way there he sees his man Mark posted up at the rec center and walks over to holla at him. “What’s up fool?” Mark says while dapping Fame up.
ref: 2014, Hitta Lo, Bracing Season I, Kaleidoscopic Publishing, →ISBN:
text: “What up fool?” Lil Slim said noticing the seriousness in Lil Kilo’s voice. “You ain’t switched up on us have you.” Lil Fresh looked at Lil Kilo like where that come from. “Nigga I’ll neva switch up.” Lil Slim said feeling a little offended.
ref: 2018, Keith L. Bell, Drought Season Over: The Sequel, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN:
qualifier: chiefly African-American Vernacular
glosses: An informal greeting akin to buddy, dude, or man.
topics: human-sciences
mysticism
philosophy
sciences
tarot
qualifier: often capitalized Fool
glosses: A particular card in a tarot deck, representing a jester.
Synonyms: sense: person who entertained a sovereign
word: jester
sense: person who entertained a sovereign
word: joker
sense: person who has been made a fool of
word: dupe
sense: person who has been made a fool of
word: mark
sense: person who has been made a fool of
word: goat
sense: person who derives pleasure from something specified
word: fan
word: alcatote
word: asshat
word: arsehole
word: asshole
word: bayard
word: berk
word: birdbrain
word: blither
word: bobchin
word: bonehead
word: bozo
word: buffoon
word: brickhead
word: Charlie
word: chucklehead
word: chowderhead
word: chump
word: clart
word: clown
word: der-brain
word: dill pickle
word: dim bulb
word: dingleberry
word: dipshit
word: dipstick
word: dirtbrain
word: div
word: divvo
word: divvy
word: dolt
word: donk
word: doodle
word: doofus
word: dope
word: dork
word: dote
word: dotterel
word: dullard
word: dumbass
word: dumbbell
word: dumb fuck
word: dummy
word: dunce
word: dunderhead
word: fathead
word: fenderhead
word: fiddle
word: fuckwit
word: fuzznut
word: geck
word: gig
word: gink
word: goober
word: gooseberry
word: gowk
word: gubbins
word: gump
word: ha'p'orth
word: Homer Simpson
word: ignoramus
word: imbecile
word: jamoke
word: jerk
word: jerkoff
word: jolterhead
word: jolthead
word: juggins
word: jughead
word: knucklehead
word: lamebrain
word: mameluke (US (Italian-American)
word: slang)
word: maroon
word: meathead
word: mong
word: moron
word: mug
word: muggins
word: mushhead
word: nimrod
word: nincompoop
word: nit
word: nitwit
word: not the sharpest knife in the drawer
word: numskull
word: numps
word: numpty
word: nupson
word: oaf
word: pillock
word: pinhead
word: plonker
word: prat
word: retard
word: shit for brains
word: shithead
word: shitwit
word: schmo
word: schmuck
word: snapperhead
word: softhead
word: sot
word: stupid
word: sucker
word: thickhead
word: tonto
word: tool
word: tosser
word: tosspot
word: twat
word: twerp
word: twit
word: wally
word: wantwit
word: wazzock
word: yampy
Hypernyms: word: dotard
word: git
word: mentally deficient person
Derived terms: act a fool
act the fool
a fool and his money are soon parted
April-fool
April fool
April Fools' Day
archfool
audiophool
cut the fool
damnfool
fat as a fool
flannelled fool
fool away
fooldom
foolery
fooless
foolfish
fool for Christ
fool-hearted
fool-heartedly
fool-heartedness
foolhood
foolify
fooligan
foolish
fool killer
foollike
foolocracy
foolometer
foolosophy
foolproof
fool rack
fool-saint
fool's cap
fool's crutch
fool's errand
fool's fool
fool's gold
foolship
fool's mushroom
foolsome
fool's paradise
fool to oneself
fossil fool
greater fool theory
holy fool
jack-fool
Lord Mayor's fool
make a fool of
make a fool out of
motley fool
natural fool
nobody's fool
no one's fool
play for a fool
play the fool
suffer fools gladly
superfool
tavern fool
there's no fool like an old fool
tomfool
Related terms: word: dimwit
word: glaik
word: halfwit
word: idiot
word: retarded
word: foolish
word: insane
word: jester