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fool (fl) Share: Tweet n. 1. One who is deficient in judgment, sense, or understanding. 2. One who acts unwisely on a given occasion: I was a fool to have quit my job. 3. One who has been tricked or made to appear ridiculous; a dupe: They made a fool of me by pretending I had won. 4. Informal A person with a talent or enthusiasm for a certain activity: a dancing fool; a fool for skiing. 5. A member of a royal or noble household who provided entertainment, as with jokes or antics; a jester. 6. One who subverts convention or orthodoxy or varies from social conformity in order to reveal spiritual or moral truth: a holy fool. 7. A dessert made of stewed or puréed fruit mixed with cream or custard and served cold. 8. Archaic A mentally deficient person; an idiot. v. fooled, fool·ing, fools v.tr. 1. To deceive or trick; dupe: "trying to learn how to fool a trout with a little bit of floating fur and feather" (Charles Kuralt). 2. To confound or prove wrong; surprise, especially pleasantly: We were sure they would fail, but they fooled us. v.intr. 1. Informal a. To speak or act facetiously or in jest; joke: I was just fooling when I said I had to leave. b. To behave comically; clown. c. To feign; pretend: He said he had a toothache but he was only fooling. 2. To engage in idle or frivolous activity. 3. To toy, tinker, or mess: shouldn't fool with matches. adj. Informal Foolish; stupid: off on some fool errand or other. Phrasal Verbs: fool around Informal 1. To engage in idle or casual activity; putter: was fooling around with the old car in hopes of fixing it. 2. To engage in frivolous activity; make fun. 3. To engage in casual sexual activity. 4. a. To have a sexual affair with someone who is not one's spouse or partner. b. To have many sexual affairs. fool away To waste (time or money) foolishly; squander: fooled away the week's pay on Friday night. Idiom: play/act the fool 1. To act in an irresponsible or foolish manner. 2. To behave in a playful or comical manner. [Middle English fol, from Old French, from Late Latin follis, windbag, fool, from Latin follis, bellows; see bhel-2 in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]

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# Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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