fool around

verb

variants or chiefly British fool about

fooled around; fooling around; fools around

intransitive verb

1

: to behave in a way that is not very serious

When it comes to safety, we don't fool around.

often, specifically : to spend time idly, aimlessly, or frivolously

Later in the day, the three of us were fooling around, waiting for Mr. Michaels to get class started.

—Marilyn Reynolds

2

: to engage in casual sexual activity

She found out that her partner had been fooling around on her. [=having sex with someone else]

see also fool around with

Synonyms

• act up
• clown (around)
• cut up
• horse around
• hotdog
• monkey (around)
• show off
• showboat
• skylark

Examples of fool around in a Sentence

quit fooling around on the jungle gym, or you'll get hurt

we fooled around outdoors for a while, then went in to get some work done

Recent Examples on the Web

While the siblings have the habit of getting into troubles and to only use their creative skills to fool around, Michael sees in them a real talent. —Maelle Beauget-Uhl, Forbes, 5 Dec. 2024

Players were in a dorm room fooling around with a gun. —Eric Sondheimer, Los Angeles Times, 20 Nov. 2024

Why fool around with a convention that everyone understood and practiced? —Judith Martin, The Mercury News, 7 Oct. 2024

Flashbacks peppered throughout the first several episodes reveal that Yasmin caught her father fooling around with a pregnant woman on the boat. —Eliana Dockterman, TIME, 16 Sep. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1837, in the meaning defined at sense 1