FOOL

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does fool mean? 

• FOOL (noun)
  The noun FOOL has 3 senses:

1. a person who lacks good judgment

2. a person who is gullible and easy to take advantage of

3. a professional clown employed to entertain a king or nobleman in the Middle Ages

  Familiarity information: FOOL used as a noun is uncommon.

• FOOL (verb)
  The verb FOOL has 4 senses:

1. make a fool or dupe of

2. spend frivolously and unwisely

3. fool or hoax

4. indulge in horseplay

  Familiarity information: FOOL used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FOOL (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A person who lacks good judgment

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

fool; muggins; sap; saphead; tomfool

Hypernyms ("fool" is a kind of...):

simple; simpleton (a person lacking intelligence or common sense)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "fool"):

ass (a pompous fool)

buffoon; clown (a rude or vulgar fool)

flibbertigibbet; foolish woman (a female fool)

fucker (a stupid despised man)

bozo; cuckoo; fathead; goof; goofball; goose; jackass; twat; zany (a man who is a stupid incompetent fool)

meshuggeneh; meshuggener ((Yiddish) a crazy fool)

morosoph (a learned fool)

putz ((Yiddish) a fool; an idiot)

wally (a silly and inept person; someone who is regarded as stupid)

Derivation:

fool (fool or hoax)

fool (make a fool or dupe of)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A person who is gullible and easy to take advantage of

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

chump; fall guy; fool; gull; mark; mug; patsy; soft touch; sucker

Hypernyms ("fool" is a kind of...):

dupe; victim (a person who is tricked or swindled)

Derivation:

fool (fool or hoax)

fool (make a fool or dupe of)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A professional clown employed to entertain a king or nobleman in the Middle Ages

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

fool; jester; motley fool

Hypernyms ("fool" is a kind of...):

buffoon; clown; goof; goofball; merry andrew (a person who amuses others by ridiculous behavior)

Derivation:

fool (indulge in horseplay)

• FOOL (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they fool    ... he / she / it fools   
Past simple: fooled   
Past participle: fooled   
-ing form: fooling   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make a fool or dupe of

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

befool; fool; gull

Hypernyms (to "fool" is one way to...):

cozen; deceive; delude; lead on (be false to; be dishonest with)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

fool (a person who is gullible and easy to take advantage of)

fool (a person who lacks good judgment)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Spend frivolously and unwisely

Classified under:

Verbs of eating and drinking

Synonyms:

dissipate; fool; fool away; fritter; fritter away; frivol away; shoot

Context example:

Fritter away one's inheritance

Hypernyms (to "fool" is one way to...):

consume; squander; ware; waste (spend extravagantly)

"Fool" entails doing...:

consume; deplete; eat; eat up; exhaust; run through; use up; wipe out (use up (resources or materials))

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Fool or hoax

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

befool; cod; dupe; fool; gull; put on; put one across; put one over; slang; take in

Context example:

You can't fool me!

Hypernyms (to "fool" is one way to...):

betray; deceive; lead astray (cause someone to believe an untruth)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "fool"):

kid; pull the leg of (tell false information to for fun)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

fool (a person who is gullible and easy to take advantage of)

fool (a person who lacks good judgment)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Indulge in horseplay

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

arse around; fool; fool around; horse around

Context example:

The bored children were fooling about

Hypernyms (to "fool" is one way to...):

jest; joke (tell a joke; speak humorously)

play (be at play; be engaged in playful activity; amuse oneself in a way characteristic of children)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

fool (a professional clown employed to entertain a king or nobleman in the Middle Ages)

foolery (foolish or senseless behavior)

 Context examples 

You fools! cried he, what are you crying about?

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

I went there, I suppose, to make a fool of myself, and I am quite sure I did it.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

It was apparent that my conversation had interested the father in my behalf, and I was a fool in having exposed my person to the horror of his children.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

He speedily learned that Perrault and François were fair men, calm and impartial in administering justice, and too wise in the way of dogs to be fooled by dogs.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

I have fooled everyone so long that I thought I should never be found out.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

That doctor's a fool, I tell you.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

If you don't mind my expressin' my feelin's, Mr. Scott, I'll make free to say you're seventeen kinds of a damn fool an' all of 'em different, an' then some.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

I was a fool not to call you in at the time Mr. Holmes.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have been!

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He was a fool to attempt to make a pretence that way.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)