Jester

//ˈd͡ʒɛs.tə// name, noun, verb

name, noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    One who jests, jokes or teases.

    "As resident jester at the maverick journalism outlet The Free Press, Nellie Bowles scours the news for the absurd and hypocritical, and then skewers the best of the worst in her column, TGIF."

  2. 2
    a professional clown employed to entertain a king or nobleman in the Middle Ages wordnet
  3. 3
    A person in colourful garb and fool's cap who amused a medieval and early modern royal or noble court.
  4. 4
    Any of various nymphalid butterflies of the Southeast Asian genus Symbrenthia.
Verb
  1. 1
    To act in a foolish or clownish way for the purpose of entertainment or attracting attention. intransitive
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname.

Synonyms

All synonyms
buffoonfoolfoolmotley foolbuffoonbanana

Antonyms

All antonyms
knight

Example

More examples

"He was a jester, and nothing more. He felt no pain; he was a jester, and nothing more."

Etymology

From Middle English gestour; equivalent to jest + -er.

Related phrases

court jesterearly modernfool's cap

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.