# fool

/ˈfuɫ/ (US) · /fˈuːl/ (UK)

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/fool
Updated: 2026-06-19

## Senses

### 1. unwise person

noun · CEFR B1

a person who does not have good judgment or who acts in a silly or stupid way.

For teachers: a person lacking in judgment or prudence; often used as a mild to moderate insult regarding someone's intelligence or behavior.

- I felt like a fool when I realized I was wearing two different shoes.
- He was no fool in business matters, yet he consistently allowed his personal biases to cloud his professional judgment.

### 2. historical entertainer

noun · CEFR B2 · Archaic

a person in the past whose job was to tell jokes and entertain a king or queen.

For teachers: a professional jester or entertainer at a royal or noble court, historically permitted to speak truths that others could not.

- The king's fool was the only person allowed to mock the monarch's decisions.
- In Shakespearean drama, the fool often serves as a source of profound wisdom disguised as nonsensical riddles.

### 3. fruit dessert

noun · CEFR C1 · British English

a cold dessert made of mashed fruit mixed with cream or custard.

For teachers: a traditional British dessert consisting of puréed fruit folded into chilled custard or whipped cream.

- We had a delicious gooseberry fool for dessert after the Sunday roast.
- The chef prepared a rhubarb fool, balancing the tartness of the fruit with a rich, vanilla-infused double cream.

### 4. to trick someone

verb · CEFR B1

to trick someone or make them believe something that is not true.

For teachers: to deceive or dupe someone, often by means of a clever or playful trick.

- You can't fool me with that fake spider; I know it's plastic.
- The sophisticated phishing email managed to fool several employees into revealing their login credentials.

### 5. to behave sillily

verb · CEFR B2 · Informal

to behave in a silly way or waste time.

For teachers: to behave in a playful, frivolous, or idiotic manner; often used with 'around'.

- Stop fooling around and finish your homework before dinner.
- The teenagers were caught fooling around near the edge of the pier, oblivious to the safety warnings posted nearby.

Usage: Often used as the phrasal verb 'fool around'.

### 6. silly or unwise

adjective · CEFR B2 · Informal

silly, stupid, or not showing good sense.

For teachers: characteristic of a fool; lacking good sense or judgment.

- That was a fool idea to go hiking in the middle of a storm.
- He wasted his inheritance on some fool scheme to find buried treasure in the desert.

## Examples

- I felt like a fool when I realized I had the wrong date.
- He was a fool to think he could finish the entire project in a single weekend without any help.
- In traditional literature, the character of the fool often possesses a unique wisdom that allows them to speak truths that more serious characters are too afraid to acknowledge.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.