buffoon

noun

buf·​foon (ˌ)bə-ˈfün How to pronounce buffoon (audio)
1
: a ludicrous figure : clown
2
: a gross and usually ill-educated or stupid person
acting like a ridiculous buffoon
buffoonish adjective

Examples of buffoon in a Sentence

Stop acting like a buffoon. the children at the birthday party giggled at the buffoon's silly tricks
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Of course, Veep’s sycophants, buffoons, and backstabbers bear little resemblance to the vanguard of our latest regime. Judy Berman, TIME, 20 Feb. 2025 Hudson’s bandmates—the guitarist Robbie Robertson, the drummer Levon Helm, the bassist Rick Danko, and the pianist and multi-instrumentalist Richard Manuel—often described him as scholarly, nimble, and discerning, a professor type at loose in a scene dominated by beautiful buffoons. Amanda Petrusich, The New Yorker, 24 Jan. 2025 By the end, the lecturer had argued that the term was in fact a meaningful one, used by Nietzsche to describe not only a buffoon who struggles to come to grips with modern ideas, but also the unconscious buffoon who does not question his own pathos. Tania Roettger, The Dial, 5 Dec. 2024 Since graduation, Chen has racked up assignments in Mozart, Beethoven, Donizetti, Verdi, Wagner, and Puccini with opera companies and symphony orchestras across the United States and in Europe, often as the motormouth buffoons and weasels of classic comedies. airmail.news, 7 Dec. 2024 See All Example Sentences for buffoon

Word History

Etymology

Middle French bouffon, from Old Italian buffone

First Known Use

1584, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of buffoon was in 1584

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Cite this Entry

“Buffoon.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/buffoon. Accessed 3 Mar. 2025.

Kids Definition

buffoon

noun
buf·​foon (ˌ)bə-ˈfün How to pronounce buffoon (audio)
1
2
: a crude or stupid person

More from Merriam-Webster on buffoon

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