a person who is always clowning and trying to be funny; clown
Origin of buffoon
French bouffon from Italian buffone, jester from buffare, to jest, puff: of echoic origin, originally
Two people acting like buffoons.
The definition of a buffoon is a clown or someone who is always trying to be funny.
The class clown who is always making everyone laugh is an example of a buffoon.
YourDictionary definition and usage example. Copyright © 2018 by LoveToKnow Corp
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"buffoon." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 18 December 2018. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/buffoon>.
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buffoon. (n.d.). Retrieved December 18th, 2018, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/buffoon
buffoon
Webster's New World College Dictionary, Fifth Edition Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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"buffoon." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 18 December 2018. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/buffoon>.
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buffoon. (n.d.). Retrieved December 18th, 2018, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/buffoon
buffoon
noun
- A clown; a jester: a court buffoon.
- A person given to clowning and joking.
- A ludicrous or bumbling person; a fool.
Origin of buffoon
French bouffon from Old Italian buffone from buffa jest from buffare to puff of imitative originRelated Forms:
- buf·foon′er·y
noun
THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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MLA Style
"buffoon." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 18 December 2018. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/buffoon>.
APA Style
buffoon. (n.d.). Retrieved December 18th, 2018, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/buffoon
Noun
(plural buffoons)
- One who acts in a silly or ridiculous fashion; a clown or fool.
- (pejorative) An unintentionally ridiculous person.
Usage notes
- In the United States the term is used most commonly to describe inappropriate, clownish figures on the public stage; here the behavior of a variety of public figures have caused them to be described as buffoons by their political opponents.
- In the UK the term is used more broadly, to describe such people who are held in popular regard but who nevertheless engender amusement with their pronouncements and acts.
Verb
(third-person singular simple present buffoons, present participle buffooning, simple past and past participle buffooned)
- To behave like a buffoon
Origin
From Middle French bouffon, from Italian buffone (“jester”), from buffare (“to puff out the cheeks”)
English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.
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Cite this page
MLA Style
"buffoon." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 18 December 2018. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/buffoon>.
APA Style
buffoon. (n.d.). Retrieved December 18th, 2018, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/buffoon
Sentence Examples
- That buffoon making a fool of himself at a business open house may well turn out to be the next executive or business owner you'll need to see.
- He was the buffoon, who went by a woman's name, Nastasya Ivanovna.
- "Nastasya Ivanovna, what sort of children shall I have?" she asked the buffoon, who was coming toward her in a woman's jacket.
- 34), Cicero states that he was contemptuous of other philosophers and even called Socrates "the Attic Buffoon."
- The " creature " of Charles, as he called himself, this burly, violent scholar, buffoon and bully, was reckoned a patriot.
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