Buffoon
//bəˈfuːn// noun, verb
noun, verb ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 One who performs in a silly or ridiculous fashion; a clown or fool.
"To divert the audience with buffoon postures and antic dances."
- 2 a person who amuses others by ridiculous behavior wordnet
- 3 An unintentionally ridiculous person. derogatory
- 4 a rude or vulgar fool wordnet
Verb
- 1 To behave like a buffoon
"His mimicry of gay speech and facial expressions is analogous to an Amos 'n' Andy routine, in which white men buffooned their way through incredibly demeaning impersonations of black men."
Example
More examples"Tom is what my father would call a buffoon."
Etymology
From Middle French bouffon, from Italian buffone (“jester”), from buffare (“to puff out the cheeks”), of onomatopoeic origin. Compare Middle High German buffen ("to puff"; > German büffen), Old English pyffan (“to breathe out, blow with the mouth”). More at English puff.
Related phrases
More for "buffoon"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.