fool
Part of speech: noun
verb
adj
Morphological type: simple
Topics: human-sciences
literature
media
mysticism
philosophy
publishing
sciences
tarot
Etymology: From Middle English fol (“fool”), from Old French fol (cf. modern French fou (“mad”)) from Latin follis. Doublet of fals and follis. Displaced native Old English dwæs.
Inflected forms:
form: fools
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: fools
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: fooling
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: fooled
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: fooled
pos: verb
tags: past
form: fooler
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: more fool
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: foolest
pos: adj
tags: superlative
form: most fool
pos: adj
tags: superlative
Senses:
gloss: A person with poor judgment or little intelligence.
pos: noun
tags: derogatory
examples: You were a fool to cross that busy road without looking.
The village fool threw his own shoes down the well.
Erasmus, [...] saide wiselie that experience is the common scholehouse of foles, and ill men: Men of witte and honestie, be otherwise instructed.
No man is always a fool, every man is sometimes.
'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.'
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
⁠Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools
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.
And every time I'm meant to be acting sensible
You drift into my head
And turn me into a crumbling fool.
I like that you're broken
Broken like me
Maybe that makes me a fool
gloss: A jester; a person whose role was to entertain a sovereign and the court (or lower personages).
pos: noun
tags: historical
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.
gloss: 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.
pos: noun
gloss: Someone who has been made a fool of or tricked; dupe.
pos: noun
examples: 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.’
gloss: Someone who derives pleasure from something specified.
pos: noun
tags: informal
examples: Can they think me […] their fool or jester?
I'm a fool for the city.
gloss: An informal greeting akin to buddy, dude, or man.
pos: noun
tags: slang
examples: 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? […]”
“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.
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.
“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.
gloss: A particular card in a tarot deck, representing a jester.
pos: noun
gloss: A tankie.
pos: noun
tags: derogatory
slang
gloss: To trick; to deceive.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: She bit it gently and found that it resembled a worm in no way whatsoever as to taste although because it was long and slender, a Little Red Hen might easily be fooled by its appearance.
There appears to be no process of gradually fooling oneself while degrading standards so characteristic of the Solid Rocket Booster or Space Shuttle Main Engine safety systems.
Liara: Do not be fooled by these civilized surroundings. This is a place of secrets and lies.
gloss: To act in an idiotic manner; to act foolishly.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: 1681/1682, John Dryden, The Spanish Fryar
Is this a time for fooling?
She's always complaining that she got stuck with the worst possible committee. And that me and Jimmy fool more than we work.
gloss: To make a fool of; to make act the fool.
pos: verb
tags: archaic
examples: They fool me to the top of my bent.
gloss: Foolish.
pos: adj
tags: informal
examples: Of all the fool, fruitless jobs, making anything of a creature that begins by deceiving her, is the foolest a sane woman ever undertook.
That was a fool thing to do. You could have gotten yourself shot
Synonyms: alcatote
asshat
arsehole
asshole
bayard
berk
birdbrain
blither
bobchin
bonehead
bozo
buffoon
brickhead
Charlie
chucklehead
chowderhead
chump
clart
clown
der-brain
dill pickle
dim bulb
dimwit
dingleberry
dipshit
dipstick
dirtbrain
div
divvo
divvy
dolt
donk
doodle
doofus
dope
dork
dote
dotterel
dullard
dumbass
dumbbell
dumbo
dumb fuck
dummy
dunce
dunderhead
fathead
fenderhead
fiddle
fuckwit
fuzznut
geck
gig
gink
goober
gooseberry
gowk
gubbins
gump
ha'p'orth
Homer Simpson
ignoramus
imbecile
jamoke
jerk
jerkoff
jolterhead
jolthead
juggins
jughead
knucklehead
lamebrain
mameluke (US (Italian-American)
slang)
maroon
meathead
mong
moron
mug
muggins
mushhead
nimrod
nincompoop
nit
nitwit
not the sharpest knife in the drawer
numskull
numps
numpty
nupson
oaf
pillock
pinhead
plonker
prat
retard
shit for brains
shithead
shitwit
schmo
schmuck
smooth brain
snapperhead
softhead
sot
stupid
sucker
thickhead
tonto
tool
tosser
tosspot
tubelight
twat
twerp
twit
wally
wantwit
wazzock
yampy
Antonyms: sage
Related words: glaik
halfwit
idiot
retarded
foolish
insane
jester
Derived words: 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
Translations:
lang: Bulgarian
word: кисел
roman: kisel
lang: Finnish
word: hedelmärahka
lang: Finnish
word: marjarahka
lang: German
word: Mus
lang: Hungarian
word: gyümölcskrém
lang: Hungarian
word: gyümölcsfelfújt
lang: Swedish
word: kräm