Tomfoolery

//ˈtɑmˌful.ɚ.i// noun, slang

noun, slang ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Foolish behaviour or speech. countable, uncountable

    ""Do not think THAT," I put in. "It was not so at all. I grant you that my behaviour was bad—I fully confess that it was so, and make no secret of the fact. I would even go so far as to grant you that my behaviour might well be called stupid and indecent tomfoolery; but, MORE than that it was not."

  2. 2
    foolish or senseless behavior wordnet
  3. 3
    Jewellery. Cockney, countable, slang, uncountable

Synonyms

All synonyms
buffooneryadoanticbalderdashbaloneybanter

Example

More examples

"She was amused at her son's tomfoolery."

Etymology

From Tom (a common man) + foolery.

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