fool

1 noun

1 STUPID PERSON (C) a stupid person or someone who has done something stupid: What a fool she had been to think that he would stay.

2 any fool can spoken used to say that it is very easy to do something or to see that something is true: Any fool can see that the painting's a fake.

3 be no fool/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.

4 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.

5 FOOD gooseberry fool/strawberry fool etc BrE a sweet food made of soft cooked fruit mixed with cream

6 make a fool of sb to deliberately try to make someone seem stupid: I suddenly realised that I was being made a fool of.

7 more fool you/him etc BrE 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 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

9 play/act the fool to behave in a silly way, especially in order to make people laugh: Stop playing the fool! You'll fall.

10 (send sb on) a fool's errand to make someone go somewhere or do something for no good reason

11 ENTERTAINER (C) a man whose job was to entertain a king or other powerful person in former times, by doing tricks, singing funny songs etc

—see also: April fool 2 verb

1 (T) to trick someone into believing something: You can't fool me with that old excuse. | fool sb into doing sth: Don't be fooled into believing their promises.

2 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.”

3 sb is just fooling spoken used to say that someone is not serious and is only pretending that something is true: Don't pay any attention to Henry. He's just fooling.

fool around also fool about BrE phrasal verb (I)

1 to waste time behaving in a silly way: He spent the whole afternoon just fooling around.

2 to behave in a careless and irresponsible way

(+ with): Some idiot's been fooling around with the electricity supply!

3 to have a sexual relationship with someone else's wife, boyfriend etc: Anthony's been fooling around with one of the secretaries.

3 adjective (only before noun) AmE informal silly or stupid: What did you say a fool thing like that for?