I. fool 1 /fuːl/ BrE AmE noun
[ Date: 1200-1300 ; Language: Old French ; Origin: fol , from Latin follis 'bag for blowing air' ]
1 . STUPID PERSON [countable] a stupid person or someone who has done something stupid SYN idiot :
What a fool she had been to think that he would stay.
Like a fool, I accepted straight away.
You silly old fool!
2 . make a fool of yourself to do something stupid that you feel embarrassed about afterwards and that makes you seem silly:
Sorry I made such a fool of myself last night. I must have been drunk.
3 . make a fool of somebody to deliberately do something to make someone else seem stupid:
I suddenly realised that I was being made a fool of.
4 . any fool can do something spoken used to say that it is very easy to do something or to see that something is true:
Any fool could have seen what would happen.
5 . be no/nobody’s fool to be difficult to trick or deceive, because you have a lot of experience and knowledge about something:
Katherine was nobody’s fool when it came to money.
6 . gooseberry/strawberry etc fool British English a sweet food made of soft cooked fruit mixed with cream
7 . more fool you/him etc British English spoken used to say that you think someone was stupid to do something, and it is their own fault if this causes trouble:
‘Jim smashed up my car.’ ‘More fool you for letting him borrow it!’
8 . not suffer fools gladly if you say that someone doesn’t suffer fools gladly, they do not have any patience with people who they think are stupid
9 . be living in a fool’s paradise to feel happy and satisfied, and believe there are no problems, when in fact this is not true
10 . play/act the fool to behave in a silly way, especially in order to make people laugh:
Stop playing the fool! You’ll fall.
11 . (send somebody on) a fool’s errand to make someone go somewhere or do something for no good reason
12 . fools rush in (where angels fear to tread) used to say that people are stupid if they do something immediately without thinking about it first
13 . a fool and his money are soon parted used to say that stupid people spend money quickly without thinking about it
14 . ENTERTAINER [countable] a man whose job was to entertain a king or other powerful people in the past, by doing tricks, singing funny songs etc SYN jester
⇨ ↑ April fool
II. fool 2 BrE AmE verb
1 . [transitive] to trick someone into believing something that is not true:
Even art experts were fooled.
you don’t/can’t fool me
You can’t fool me with that old excuse.
be fooled by something
Don’t be fooled by appearances.
fool somebody into doing something
I was fooled into believing their promises.
2 . fool yourself to try to make yourself believe something that you know is not really true:
It’s no good fooling yourself. He’s not coming back.
3 . you could have fooled me spoken used to show that you do not believe what someone has told you:
‘Look, we’re doing our best to fix it.’ ‘Well, you could have fooled me.’
4 . somebody is just fooling spoken used to say that someone is not serious and is only pretending that something is true SYN somebody is just kidding :
Don’t pay any attention to Henry. He’s just fooling.
fool around ( also fool about British English ) phrasal verb
1 . to waste time behaving in a silly way or doing things that are not important SYN mess around :
He always used to fool around in class.
2 . to behave in a way which is careless and not responsible SYN mess around
fool around with
Some idiot’s been fooling around with the electricity supply!
3 . American English to spend time doing something that you enjoy, but that does not have a particular purpose SYN mess around :
The boys were out in the yard, just fooling around.
4 . to have a sexual relationship with someone else’s wife, boyfriend etc SYN mess around :
She found out that he’d been fooling around behind her back.
fool with something phrasal verb American English informal
1 . to touch or play with something, especially when you should not SYN mess with something :
Who’s been fooling with the radio dial?
2 . to become involved in something which could cause damage or be dangerous SYN mess with something
• • •
THESAURUS
▪ deceive especially written to make someone who trusts you believe something that is not true:
This was a deliberate attempt to deceive the public.
▪ trick to make someone believe something that is not true, in order to get something from them or make them do something:
A man posing as an insurance agent had tricked her out of thousands of dollars.
▪ fool to make someone believe something that is not true by using a clever but simple trick:
His hairpiece doesn’t fool anyone.
▪ mislead to make people believe something that is not true, by deliberately not giving them all the facts, or by saying something that is only partly true:
The company was accused of misleading customers about the nutritional value of the product.
▪ dupe informal to trick or deceive someone, especially so that they become involved in someone else’s dishonest activity without realizing it:
The spies duped government and military officials alike.
▪ con informal to trick someone, especially by telling them something that is not true:
I’m pretty good at judging people; I didn’t think he was trying to con me.
III. fool 3 BrE AmE adjective [only before noun] American English informal
silly or stupid SYN foolish :
What did you say a fool thing like that for?