clown about
phr. v..phr. v.. to behave in a silly or funny way to make people laugh.
phr. v.. to engage in silly, playful, or foolish behavior, often to amuse others or to avoid being serious; carries a colloquial register.
Stop clowning about and finish your homework.
The children were clowning about in the garden while their parents tried to have a serious conversation.
The director grew frustrated when the lead actors continued clowning about on set instead of rehearsing the final dramatic scene.
- Particles
- about
- Separability
- inseparable
- Pattern
- clown + about
often used in the continuous form to describe ongoing behavior.
contrast with 'mess around' or 'fool around'; 'clown about' specifically evokes the image of a circus performer and is slightly more focused on being funny.
He was clowning about the room.He was clowning about.in this sense, 'about' is an adverbial particle, not a preposition, so it does not usually take a direct object of place.