Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Foolish behavior.
- n. Something trivial or foolish; nonsense.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Foolish trifling; ridiculous behavior; nonsense.
- n. Silly trifles; absurd ornaments or knick-knacks.
Wiktionary
- n. Foolish behaviour
- n. jewellery.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. Folly; trifling.
WordNet 3.0
- n. foolish or senseless behavior
Examples
“She made fun of what she called his tomfoolery, which prevented him from turning his position to account.”
“Five millennia of economic tomfoolery is bound to leave Egyptians confused about economic principles.”
“Whatever we get in November, it least it won't be Billary and this kind of tomfoolery!”
“Americans will always fall for this kind of tomfoolery, Stevey.”
“But neither can the kind of tomfoolery engaged in by this very foolish Pope.”
“Many of the Whigs were opposed to these, regarding them as a thrust at Badger, the Register saying that they were "tomfoolery" and the work of "political mountebanks," but almost as many considered them as entirely proper, eminently timely, if indeed not rendered absolutely necessary by the national situation.”
“Be a change for us city chaps," he suggested; and then exploding at what he called his "tomfoolery," set the dining-net all a-quivering and shaking.”
“But when Barber saw the curtains, he called them "tomfoolery," and tore them down.”
“Yes, Sir, that's the kind of tomfoolery I've been puttin 'up with all these years, and tryin' to hide from the neighbors!”
“She didn't care about fuss and feathers, and every other kind of tomfoolery, like all the rest of you, but she was as -- as modest as a girl, and as sensitive.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘tomfoolery’.
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set phasers to...
you name the setting
I've tuned mine to be gentler and kinder
following suit is not mandatory but would be appreciatedcoddle, confuse, flummox, tap, furrow, instigate, invigorate, punnify, logical, must... act... be..., bowdlerise, laughing gas and 419 more...
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lou2050's list
chortle, crapulence, tomfoolery, salacious, cacophony, smock, gravitas, facetious, gargantuan, ubiquitous, preposterous
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Nycanthro's list
I like words. Have kept running lists for years now. If I'd been born wealthy I'd be a linguist. Or maybe a semi-reclusive yet world-weary linguist-humanitarian-hiphop-icon known for his humility a...
oaktag, backstory, homonormative, gobshite, imagineer, comeuppance, tomfoolery, ersatz, widdershins, gigajoule, oneupmanship, conniption and 40 more...
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mcd's list
words I lurve
antidisestablishm..., lurve, lawd, spooning with angels, arcane, tomfoolery, sheer pocketry, awesomegasm, beeline, dogleg, cultivating perce..., heavens to betsy and 3 more...
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bianca's list of humourous words
hullabaloo, pickle, albuquerque, winkle, plump, cumquat, succotash, guacamole, bulbous, bouffant, jub-jub, poquaque and 11 more...
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ɱ
with potential for the labiodental nasal
symphony, bamford, amphibians, chamfer, camphor, ham-fisted, amphetamine, bumf, triumphant, comfortable, amphipod, tomfoolery and 8 more...
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essbunny@gmail.com's list
Intrigued by these words...
sphincter, blush, flume, shingle, spurt, pulp, precious, squeal, zest, zeal, cherish, fervor and 35 more...
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Expressions of disbelief or disagreement
bollocks, come off it, rubbish, as if, bullshit, guff, i don't believe it, are you mad, tosh, nonsense, garbage, bunkum and 51 more...
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Nonsense
Synonyms of "nonsense"
tomfoolery, balderdash, poppycock, lalapalooza, hullabaloo, hodgepodge, gibberish, shenanigans, hootenanny, jabberwocky, gobbledygook, mummery and 15 more...
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britishisms
A tip of my hat to the snarkiest of English dialects. Here here!
Ponce, snog, bloody, barmy, blasted, blooming, bleeding, knackered, poppycock, wanker, tosser, cracked and 52 more...
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bianca's euphonic list
paprika, poignant, poignancy, viscous, subtlety, robust, vehicular, combustion, viscosity, velocity, rotunda, malignant and 18 more...
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Nonsense
I've lost a word. Several months ago, I was reading a tart little essay online (the online counterpart of a British publication, but
*not* my beloved *LRB*, of that I'm pretty sure), and the ...twaddle, codswallop, bafflegab, gimcrackery, balderdash, poppycock, gibberish, tomfoolery, gobbledygook, buffoonery, hogwash, mumbo jumbo and 8 more...
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refriedswanforge's list
codswallop, dollop, ticker, shawarmageddon, shibboleth, zeitgeist, scrod, tomfoolery, idiom, rollock, rollicking, roger and 2 more...
reesetee I'm sure many of them wouldn't mind standing. They do that on the subway a lot. Jun 19, 2008
bilby Mentally I'm translating c_b's citation as 'you've won a million human beings'. I'm not sure I'd know what to do. Would they all want to stay at my place? The kitchen's kind of spacious but there's only one couch :-( Jun 19, 2008
chained_bear So how is not having extraneous letters unfortunate? Think of the annual savings in ink! Paper! Typing time! Jun 19, 2008
reesetee Powerball is a U.S. lottery game, bilby--and also an Australian one, I believe? Jun 18, 2008
bilby What's a population powerball? Jun 18, 2008
reesetee Oh. That. ;-) Jun 18, 2008
rolig I suppose what johnmperry is referring to is our woeful lack of extraneous letters, compared to such British words as archaeology, foetus, oedema, apophthegm, and colour. Jun 18, 2008
reesetee Yes, I suspect he would. :-) Jun 18, 2008
chained_bear I was thinking the same thing, reesetee. It reminds me of what Bill Maher said in "When You Ride Alone, You Ride with Bin Laden": If you were born in the United States in the second half of the twentieth century, congratulations! You've won the population powerball of human history!
(I think it appropriate that Bill Maher be quoted on the tomfoolery page. I think he'd appreciate the irony. :) ) Jun 18, 2008
reesetee Odd. I'm American and I don't feel unfortunate at all. Jun 18, 2008
johnmperry Cockney rhyming slang (usually truncated to Tom) = jewellery (or jewelry if you're unfortunate enough to be American)(except then it doesn't actually rhyme). Jun 18, 2008
seanahan Akin to jackassery. Aug 16, 2007