fool
noun /fuːl/
/fuːl/
Idioms - [countable] a person who you think behaves or speaks in a way that lacks intelligence or good judgement synonym idiot
- Don't be such a fool!
- I felt a fool when I realized my mistake.
- He told me he was an actor and I was fool enough to believe him.
Extra ExamplesTopics Personal qualitiesb2- Like a fool, I told her everything.
- Stop behaving like a fool!
- That fool of a doctor has prescribed me the wrong medicine!
- The poor old fool was imprisoned on my account.
- They had left me looking like a fool.
- You silly little fool!
- You're an even bigger fool than I thought.
- You must take me for a fool!
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- big
- great
- silly
- …
- feel
- feel like
- look
- …
- like a fool
- fool of a something
- act the fool
- play the fool
- be no fool
- …
- [countable] (in the past) a man employed by a king or queen to entertain people by telling jokes, singing songs, etc.
- court fools who used to provide entertainment in the royal court
- [uncountable, countable] (British English) (usually in compounds) a cold light dessert (= a sweet dish) made from fruit that is cooked to make it soft and mixed with cream or custard
- rhubarb fool
see also April Fool
Word Originnoun senses 1 to 2 Middle English: from Old French fol ‘fool, foolish’, from Latin follis ‘bellows, windbag’, by extension ‘empty-headed person’. noun sense 3 late 16th cent.: perhaps from fool ‘foolish’.
Idioms
act/play the fool
- to behave in a stupid way in order to make people laugh, especially in a way that may also annoy them
- Quit playing the fool and get some work done!
Extra Examples- Stop acting the fool and be serious!
- He thought that being an actor only involved tap dancing and playing the fool.
any fool can/could…
- (informal) used to say that something is very easy to do
- Any fool could tell she was lying.
be no/nobody’s fool
- to be too intelligent or know too much about something to be tricked by other people
- She's nobody's fool when it comes to dealing with difficult patients.
- She's nobody's fool. She had the car checked by a mechanic before buying it.
a fool and his money are soon parted
- (saying) a person who is not sensible usually spends money too quickly or carelessly, or is cheated by others
fools rush in (where angels fear to tread)
- (saying) people with little experience try to do the difficult or dangerous things that more experienced people would not consider doing
make a fool of somebody
- to say or do something deliberately so that people will think that somebody is stupid
- Can't you see she's making a fool of you?
- I will not be made a fool of like this.
- She was angry at having been made a fool of.
Synonyms cheatcheat- fool
- deceive
- betray
- take in
- trick
- con
- cheat to make somebody believe something that is not true, in order to get money or something else from them:
- She is accused of attempting to cheat the taxman.
- He cheated his way into the job.
- fool to make somebody believe something that is not true, especially in order to laugh at them or to get what you want:
- Just don’t be fooled into investing any money with them.
- deceive to make somebody believe something that is not true, especially somebody who trusts you, in order to get what you want:
- She deceived him into handing over all his savings.
- betray to hurt somebody who trusts you, especially by lying to or about them or telling their secrets to other people:
- She felt betrayed when she found out the truth about him.
- take somebody in [often passive] to make somebody believe something that is not true, usually in order to get what you want:
- I was taken in by her story.
- trick to make somebody believe something that is not true, especially in a clever way, in order to get what you want.
- con (informal) to make somebody believe something that is not true, especially in order to get money from them or get them to do something for you:
- They had been conned out of £100 000.
- Many of these words involve making somebody believe something that is not true, but some of them are more disapproving than others. Deceive is probably the worst because people typically deceive friends, relations and others who know and trust them. People may feel cheated/betrayed by somebody in authority who they trusted to look after their interests. If somebody takes you in, they may do it by acting a part and using words and charm effectively. If somebody cheats/fools/tricks/cons you, they may get something from you and make you feel stupid. However, somebody might fool you just as a joke; and to trick somebody is sometimes seen as a clever thing to do, if the person being tricked is seen as a bad person who deserves it.
- to cheat/fool/trick/con somebody out of something
- to cheat/fool/deceive/betray/trick/con somebody into doing something
- to feel cheated/fooled/deceived/betrayed/tricked/conned
- to fool/deceive yourself
- to cheat/trick/con your way into something
make a fool of yourself
- to do something stupid that makes other people think that you are a fool
- I made a complete fool of myself in front of everyone!
more fool somebody (for doing something)
- (informal) used to say that you think that somebody was stupid to do something, especially when it causes them problems
- ‘He's not an easy person to live with.’ ‘More fool her for marrying him!’
- ‘I know I shouldn’t have given him the money, but I did.’ ‘More fool you!’
- I thought it was safe to leave my suitcase there. More fool me.
(there’s) no fool like an old fool
- (saying) an older person who behaves in a stupid way is worse than a younger person who does the same thing, because experience should have taught him or her not to do it
not suffer fools gladly
- to be very impatient with people that you think are stupid
- She was a forceful personality who didn't suffer fools gladly.