clown Definition
clown (klo̵un)
noun
- Obsolete a peasant or farmer; rustic
- a clumsy, boorish, or incompetent person
- a performer who entertains, as in a circus, by antics, jokes, tricks, etc.; jester
- a person who constantly plays the fool, makes jokes, etc.; buffoon
Etymology: < ? Scand, as in Ice klunni, clumsy person
intransitive verb
- to perform as a clown
- to play practical jokes, act silly, etc.
clown Related Forms
clown′·ery noun
clown′·ish adjective
clown′·ishly adverb
clown′·ish·ness noun
clown Synonyms
clown
n.
clown Usage Examples
Converse of object
- eat: Jul 10 2004, 10:20 PM HGM Two cannibals are eating a clown.
- watch: People do not come to the circus to watch the clowns.
Adjective modifier
- drunken: Hoggard pops Malinga to slip off the arm, and the drunken clowns in the crowd are screaming no-ball every time he bowls.
- scary: As a child Cage had nightmares about cockroaches, scary clowns and genies.
- tragic: He had a marvelous face, that of a tragic clown, constantly mobile and deeply expressive.
- sad: Blue is the South-East London blues of Billy Jenkins, who plays the guitar like a clown, a truly sad clown.
- famous: But it is not difficult to be a famous clown.
Modifies a noun
- loach: My 7 " silver shark, 2 x 5 " clown loaches among others all wiped out.
- prince: The clown prince of football is a Burnley player.
- make-up: These days, my clown make-up includes quite a petite mouth.
- outfit: At Fargo's, Chelsea seethes when Elaine asks her to dress in a clown outfit.
- fish: First off, he's a clown fish who tells lame jokes.
- costume: Dress up in tramp and clown costumes from the Museum's latest exhibition or Toad's prisoner costume from The Wind in the Willows.
Followed by an intransitive particle
around: The featurette has some good behind the scenes footage, especially of the guys clowning around on set.
Preposition: in
circus: Brazilian born Angela de Castro has performed and taught clowning in circuses and at festivals across the world.
Noun used with modifier
- circus: Together, they met up socially with the third member of their team, Amy Howard, a circus clown.
- pantomime: Thereâs something of the pantomime clown about him with his fake Italian accent ( does anyone know why he does this?
- killer: Although I guess you kinda have to if you live in a world of insane killer clowns.
- class: I went from being family clown to class clown.
- party: Instead, while working on a film about successful New York birthday party clowns, he found David Friedman.
Browse dictionary entries near clown
- ‹ Clovis I
- ‹ cloverleaf
- ‹ clover
- ‹ cloven
- ‹ clove pink
- ‹ clove hitch
- ‹ clove
- ‹ clout
- ‹ clough
- ‹ Clouet
- clown (around) ›
- cloy ›
- cloying ›
- cloze ›
- CLP ›
- CLR ›
- CLU ›
- club ›
- club car ›
- club chair ›

