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fool

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The definition of a fool is someone with poor judgment.

(noun)

An example of a fool is someone who constantly takes dangerous risks.

To fool is defined as to trick or lie to.

(verb)

An example of to fool is for a person to trick everyone into believing she is kind and generous when she is really a thief.

See fool in Webster's New World College Dictionary

noun

1. a person with little or no judgment, common sense, wisdom, etc.; silly or stupid person; simpleton
2. Obsolete a mentally retarded person
a man formerly kept in the household of a nobleman or king to entertain by joking and clowning; professional jester
a victim of a joke or trick; dupe
a person especially devoted to or skilled in some activity: a dancing fool

Origin: ME fol < OFr (Fr fou) < LL follis < L, windbag, bellows: see follicle

adjective

Informal foolish

intransitive verb

to act like a fool; be silly
to speak, act, etc. in jest; joke
Informal to trifle or meddle (with)

transitive verb

to make a fool of; trick; deceive; dupe

noun

Brit. crushed stewed fruit mixed with cream, esp. whipped cream

Origin: Early ModE < ? fool

See fool in American Heritage Dictionary 4

noun

One who is deficient in judgment, sense, or understanding.
One who acts unwisely on a given occasion: I was a fool to have quit my job.
One who has been tricked or made to appear ridiculous; a dupe: They made a fool of me by pretending I had won.
Informal A person with a talent or enthusiasm for a certain activity: a dancing fool; a fool for skiing.
A member of a royal or noble household who provided entertainment, as with jokes or antics; a jester.
One who subverts convention or orthodoxy or varies from social conformity in order to reveal spiritual or moral truth: a holy fool.
A dessert made of stewed or puréed fruit mixed with cream or custard and served cold.
Archaic A mentally deficient person; an idiot.

verb fooled, fool·ing, fools

verb, transitive

To deceive or trick; dupe: “trying to learn how to fool a trout with a little bit of floating fur and feather” (Charles Kuralt).
To confound or prove wrong; surprise, especially pleasantly: We were sure they would fail, but they fooled us.

verb, intransitive

Informal
a. To speak or act facetiously or in jest; joke: I was just fooling when I said I had to leave.
b. To behave comically; clown.
c. To feign; pretend: He said he had a toothache but he was only fooling.
To engage in idle or frivolous activity.
To toy, tinker, or mess: shouldn't fool with matches.

adjective
Informal

Foolish; stupid: off on some fool errand or other.

Phrasal Verbs: fool around Informal To engage in idle or casual activity; putter: was fooling around with the old car in hopes of fixing it. To engage in frivolous activity; make fun. To engage in casual, often promiscuous sexual acts. fool away To waste (time or money) foolishly; squander: fooled away the week's pay on Friday night.

Origin:

Origin: Middle English fol

Origin: , from Old French

Origin: , from Late Latin follis, windbag, fool

Origin: , from Latin follis, bellows; see bhel-² in Indo-European roots

Word History: The pejorative nature of the term fool is strengthened by a knowledge of its etymology. Its source, the Latin word follis, meant “a bag or sack, a large inflated ball, a pair of bellows.” Users of the word in Late Latin, however, saw a resemblance between the bellows or the inflated ball and a person who was what we would call “a windbag” or “an airhead.” The word, which passed into English by way of French, is first recorded in English in a work written around the beginning of the 13th century with the sense “a foolish, stupid, or ignorant person.”

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