to fool around
46
3.6
- phrasal verb
- /fuːl əˈraʊnd/
- Informal
:
hacer tonterías
- Stop fooling around and focus on your homework so you can finish on time.
You would be fooling around all day.
- You would be fooling around all day.
- And so go ahead, sign up, grab that username, you know, fool around, see what happens.
- So we need to give ourselves some room to fool around from time to time, to do something silly, to waste time.
- In order to be even begin to get an idea of whether such an idea is plausible, you have to fool around with a lot of a lot of examples.
- When I was writing my book, I was kind of fooling around looking at articles from the Saturday Evening Post.
- If you start fooling around with it and try to change the rules, you very quickly find that something really bad happens.
- I know my mom saw me that I figured why we fooled around so little and we keep track of time being so serious.
Examples
-
Stop fooling around.
-
Quit fooling around!
-
You get in here and you play, you fool around with others.
Academic text (2010) -
You would be fooling around all day.
-
All right, stop fooling around.
-
Come on, quit fooling around.
-
Stop fooling around, will ya?
-
I think they are playing, fooling around with what they know nothing about.
Academic text (1996) -
We're trying to play here, and you're fooling around.
-
Guys, stop fooling around.
Synonyms
∞
2.5
Behave in a way to trick or amuse someone
233
1.8
To behave in a silly, playful way and waste time
217
1.1
To play and move quickly in different directions while making noise
111
4.1
To spend time doing playful or unplanned activities
88
2.1
Act in a foolish or playful way without taking things seriously
75
9.9
To waste time or act carelessly
47
3.4
To try something in a casual playful way without being serious
45
4.8
To try an activity in a casual way without serious effort
43
3.7
To spend time doing nothing useful
42
4.6
To act silly and playful without doing anything serious
40
2.4
To say funny things and behave in a playful way to make people laugh
19
5.1
Act in a playful, joking way without being serious
9
4.8
To act silly and playful to make people laugh
7
6.3
To play loudly and roughly in a silly way, often when it is not appropriate
7
4.6
Act in a silly way to make others laugh or avoid being serious
6
7.2
To waste time by doing small unimportant things
5
6.5
To spend time doing small, not important tasks slowly without a clear plan
4
7.3
Waste time by acting silly instead of working
3
5.9
To spend time somewhere doing nothing special
3
7.9
Spend time doing very little or nothing
3
8.0
To behave in a silly or embarrassing way to get attention
3
8.4
To spend time doing not important things in a relaxed way
1
9.2
To spend time doing small unimportant things instead of working
1
8.7
To waste time doing small unimportant things
1
4.4
To spend time doing very little and relaxing
1
8.0
To play an instrument in a relaxed way without serious practice
1
9.6
To enjoy yourself by behaving in a lively, playful way
1
4.2
Move and tumble on the ground in a happy, playful way
1
9.9
Act in a foolish, annoying way instead of being serious
1
9.9
To waste time doing silly or lazy things instead of useful work
1
9.9
To waste time instead of doing something useful
1
9.9
To waste time doing unimportant or silly things instead of doing something important
1
6.5
To move around slowly doing small jobs in no hurry
1
8.1
To play and joke in a silly way and sometimes cause trouble
To waste time by doing silly, unimportant things
To spend time doing small unimportant things with no real plan
Act in a silly, aimless way and waste time
To behave foolishly or clumsily
To waste time, money, or chances by being careless
To act in a silly, playful way instead of being serious
Move around without a plan to have fun
Antonyms
How Playful
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly built from 'fool' (behave foolishly) plus 'around' (aimlessly/moving about), so a learner who knows both words can infer 'to behave in a playful, silly, or aimless way'. This verb + particle pattern with 'around' indicating aimlessness is common and cross-linguistically recognizable, making the expression readily comprehensible to B1 learners.
Etymology
Fool around meaning to act silly comes from the literal image of a fool (a clown or joker) moving around and playing instead of working. That's why it means 'to behave in a playful, silly, or aimless way'.