I. noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a complete fool/idiot etc
▪
Meg realized she’d been a complete fool.
April fool
April Fools' Day
fool's gold
let yourself be beaten/persuaded/fooled etc
▪
I stupidly let myself be persuaded to take part in a live debate.
played the fool (= behaved in a silly way )
▪
He played the fool at school instead of working.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
bloody
▪
The bloody fools seem to have been under the impression that they had performed rather well.
▪
For several moments he studied its blankness, wondering if he was not a bloody fool .
▪
Tell Clifford to hang on to his job and stop being a bloody fool .
▪
Greg has asthma. Bloody fool .
▪
Twinkle twinkle little star ... No one but a bloody fool would try to walk a mile with an arrow through his chest.
▪
Meet J. Kendall, bloody fool .
▪
Then don't stand there dithering, you bloody fool .
▪
Things like a freshly made bed, regular meals, some one to dote on him like a bloody fool !
complete
▪
Meg realized she'd been a complete fool .
▪
She's throwing herself at that man, making a complete fool of herself.
▪
Better that, she thought resignedly, than making a complete fool of herself.
▪
Balbindor treated Father and me all along as complete fools .
▪
She had made a complete fool of herself and had successfully lived down to every low opinion that Piers harboured about her.
▪
You would be a complete fool if you did.
▪
What if she made a complete fool of herself and let Ricky down?
▪
So a complete fool will not acquire a following.
damn
▪
I began crying and swearing and socking myself on the head for being such a damn fool .
▪
He hated what went on among the other couples and in which he could share were he not such a damn fool .
▪
We got upland politicians to thank for that, damn fools .
▪
She sald Hamlet was a damn fool .
damned
▪
And when I did I behaved like a damned fool .
▪
Silently she cursed herself for being such a damned fool .
▪
Although only a damned fool would believe it.
great
▪
And what a greater fool was he, to risk his men in argument.
▪
Was I not perhaps the greatest fool in Christendom?
▪
Your milk-brother, you great fool !
little
▪
She was a drinking little fool and kept up with me and passed me and went right on talking till midnight.
old
▪
She thought what an undecided old fool Phoebe was, but it made her outburst at the Frolic all the more courageous.
▪
Papa, you old fool !!!
▪
But then the old fool should have been a little less unwashed and boring.
▪
He was no more to her, he thought, than a tiresome old man, an old fool .
▪
An old fool if you like.
▪
Am I to be troubled by a skinny old fool in mirror shades?
▪
What a silly old fool he was.
poor
▪
His mind gave way, poor fool .
▪
Eddie, poor fool , complies.
▪
No merciful sudden death for that poor romantic young fool , he thought grimly.
▪
The joke is always on the physician, not on the poor fool given unto his care.
▪
The laugh acknowledged, even admiringly, some sort of necessity that Cedric, poor fool , could not begin to understand.
▪
Miller does not yet know this, the poor fool .
silly
▪
And what good you, you silly fool , playing into my hands like this?
▪
But the captain mocked him for a silly fool and bade the crew hasten to hoist the sail.
▪
What a silly old fool he was.
stupid
▪
Not a Hammond you stupid fool !
▪
Well, let us be blunt: People who believe this logic are either stupid or fools .
▪
What kind of stupid fools are they, anyway?
young
▪
Yes, there are old fools , but there are also young fools, and viceversa.
▪
There are as many young fools as old ones.
▪
I was a young man then ... a young fool .
▪
No merciful sudden death for that poor romantic young fool , he thought grimly.
■ NOUN
gooseberry
▪
If serving the gooseberry fool on its own, add a little extra sugar to taste.
■ VERB
act
▪
He acted the fool , losing at first to whet their appetites, but in an hour emptied his three victims' purses.
▪
Don't go acting the fool , Carl.
▪
If only he would drop all this ridiculous pretence, stop acting the fool and raise his game one more time.
▪
All applauded the advice and Agamemnon confessed that he had acted like a fool .
▪
They drank her champagne, ate her perfect food and acted like perfect fools even though they sometimes knew better.
call
▪
The formula is for a simple raspberry purée and cream mixture which today we should call a raspberry fool .
▪
He called me a fool and stormed out.
feel
▪
It's very peculiar - he made me feel a fool .
▪
He feels like a fool in his virtual reality goggles as he trudges through the driving rain to the parked aircraft.
▪
Then I felt a fool and decided to leave it and mind my own business.
▪
She felt like a fool and began to laugh out loud.
▪
I felt such a fool when he picked me up like that.
▪
I laughed at how easily the man could make me feel like a fool .
▪
Waiters made him feel a fool , this clever man.
look
▪
This time she yelled his name, not giving a damn if she looked a fool , and dived after him.
▪
Those in charge ended up looking like fools .
▪
Some one else might have looked like a fool .
▪
Thank you for making me look a fool ?
▪
His eyes are open so wide he looks like a fool .
▪
To me, ti just looks like the fools are running scared.
▪
It made her look a fool .
play
▪
But the trouble with the picture is that it does absolutely nothing with its various prognostications except play the fool with them.
▪
In class he never played the fool , never challenged the teacher.
▪
Dominic and Lee had been playing the fool as only young men can.
▪
Those on the path of mastery are willing to take chances, play the fool ....
▪
Narouz had been angry, first with the girl for playing the fool and then with the eunuch for not finding her.
▪
Don't imagine you can play me for a fool .
▪
He thought that being an actor was tap dancing and playing the fool .
▪
He likes me to play the fool .
suffer
▪
He was a perfectionist who didn't suffer fools gladly.
▪
A tall, fast-talking southerner whose accent still lingers despite her years in the north, Porter does not suffer fools gladly.
▪
But if he didn't suffer fools gladly, I must ask who would want to?
▪
You don't suffer fools gladly, especially when they have power over you.
▪
She was a forceful personality who did not suffer fools gladly, but her sternness was accompanied by grace and Victorian courtesy.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a prize idiot/fool
not suffer fools gladly
▪
A tall, fast-talking southerner whose accent still lingers despite her years in the north, Porter does not suffer fools gladly.
▪
Mr Fallon has been described as the kind of man who does not suffer fools gladly.
▪
She was a forceful personality who did not suffer fools gladly, but her sternness was accompanied by grace and Victorian courtesy.
old fool/bastard/bat etc
▪
Am I to be troubled by a skinny old fool in mirror shades?
▪
An old fool if you like.
▪
But then the old fool should have been a little less unwashed and boring.
▪
He was no more to her, he thought, than a tiresome old man, an old fool.
▪
Look there that old fool Broom, slipped off to sleep.
▪
She thought what an undecided old fool Phoebe was, but it made her outburst at the Frolic all the more courageous.
▪
The old bats included a plastic, an aluminum and a wooden one.
perfect stranger/fool/angel etc
▪
A year before he had, but that year had changed him, eliminated the sentiment and made him a perfect stranger.
▪
Again he was a person, no longer a perfect stranger.
▪
Asked to stand guard over good or treasure, they would good-naturedly hand everything over to a perfect stranger.
▪
I was then to ask what people thought about being smiled at by a perfect stranger.
▪
She turned into an expert at coaxing food and lodging invitations out of perfect strangers.
▪
Some oranges in a commune, like perfect strangers, dwell upon their own navels, untransformed.
▪
They put money on the table, too, perfect strangers expressing unmistakable monetary interest in the Tonelli Nation.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪
Anyone who thinks TV news gives you enough information is a fool .
▪
What does that fool think he's doing?
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪
Epithets can be abusive: You clumsy fool ! epitome A short summary of a speech or book.
▪
She made you look a bit of a fool in front of anyone else who was watching.
▪
Some fool backed over mine in a car park.
▪
They'd X-rayed my chest when any fool knew that it was the kidney that had had to come out.
▪
This new lot have come up because the landowners are fools.
▪
We'd be devalued again and any fool but the government can see it coming, can't they?
▪
What a fool I am, thought Mrs. Fanshawe.
II. verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
easily
▪
Some other species are easily fooled by artificial light.
▪
It won't be fooled easily .
▪
We are not so easily fooled by reflections in lakes or puddles.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a prize idiot/fool
old fool/bastard/bat etc
▪
Am I to be troubled by a skinny old fool in mirror shades?
▪
An old fool if you like.
▪
But then the old fool should have been a little less unwashed and boring.
▪
He was no more to her, he thought, than a tiresome old man, an old fool.
▪
Look there that old fool Broom, slipped off to sleep.
▪
She thought what an undecided old fool Phoebe was, but it made her outburst at the Frolic all the more courageous.
▪
The old bats included a plastic, an aluminum and a wooden one.
perfect stranger/fool/angel etc
▪
A year before he had, but that year had changed him, eliminated the sentiment and made him a perfect stranger.
▪
Again he was a person, no longer a perfect stranger.
▪
Asked to stand guard over good or treasure, they would good-naturedly hand everything over to a perfect stranger.
▪
I was then to ask what people thought about being smiled at by a perfect stranger.
▪
She turned into an expert at coaxing food and lodging invitations out of perfect strangers.
▪
Some oranges in a commune, like perfect strangers, dwell upon their own navels, untransformed.
▪
They put money on the table, too, perfect strangers expressing unmistakable monetary interest in the Tonelli Nation.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪
His hairpiece doesn't fool anyone.
▪
Maybe I was just fooling myself, but I really thought he liked me.
▪
The brothers' act had us all fooled.
▪
The recording fooled the enemy about troop movements.
▪
They managed to fool the police into thinking they had left the country.
▪
You can't fool me - I know he's already given you the money.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪
All I can say having watched Torvill and Dean's peerless and emotional performances ... you could have fooled me.
▪
Did, did you fool with your crab meat yet?
▪
Do you think you can fool me, Armagnac at sunset?
▪
Dominic was just fooling around - flirting.
▪
He is also a deeply private person whose kindly, smiling face could fool you.
▪
It would have fooled me, let alone a buffalo.
▪
They are not fooled by women who pretend to love sports.
III. adjective
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
not suffer fools gladly
▪
A tall, fast-talking southerner whose accent still lingers despite her years in the north, Porter does not suffer fools gladly.
▪
Mr Fallon has been described as the kind of man who does not suffer fools gladly.
▪
She was a forceful personality who did not suffer fools gladly, but her sternness was accompanied by grace and Victorian courtesy.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪
I tell you, the whole fool scheme is worth trying, just for the sake of this last part.
▪
Look there that old fool Broom, slipped off to sleep.
▪
What that fool box might teach us about the world is breathtaking to consider.