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 Mark and Helly were fooling around, Helly wasn’t fulfilling her promise to go get the directions Irving left tucked behind Dylan’s motivational poster. —Ben Travers, IndieWire, 21 Feb. 2025

Louie's owner's TikTok account is full of the dog up to mischief, digging in the garden with his owner, watching TV, playing fetch, fooling around in the snow, and undergoing training. —Thomas G. Moukawsher, Newsweek, 5 Feb. 2025

Players were in a dorm room fooling around with a gun. —Eric Sondheimer, Los Angeles Times, 25 Nov. 2024

Oklahoma fooled around with Houston long enough to escape with a narrow 16-12 win. —Chase Goodbread, The Tennessean, 18 Sep. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1837, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for fool around

• aboveground
• battleground
• belowground
• paperbound
• turnaround
• ultrasound
• underground
• wraparound
• abound
• aground
• astound
• background