Meanings
plural tomfooleries
- countableuncountableFoolish behaviour or speech.
"Do not think THAT," I put in. "It was not so at all. I grant you that my behaviour was bad—I fully confess that it was so, and make no secret of the fact. I would even go so far as to grant you that my behaviour might well be called stupid and indecent tomfoolery; but, MORE than that it was not.
1867, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, chapter VI, in The Gambler, translated by C. J. Hogarth^(https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Gambler_(1867)/VI)Synonyms: buffoonery
- CockneycountableslanguncountableJewellery.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounFoolish behaviour or speech.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Aramaicתאמא
- Aramaicתאומא (təʾōmā)
- Ancient GreekΘωμᾶς (Thōmâs)
- LatinThōmās
- Middle EnglishThomas
- Middle EnglishThomme
- EnglishTom
- Englishfoolery
- Englishtomfoolery
From Tom (“a common man”) + foolery.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian палячовщина
- палячовщина (paljačovština)foolish behaviour
Chinese Mandarin 蠢事, 愚蠢舉動 /愚蠢举动
- 蠢事 (chǔnshì)foolish behaviour
- 愚蠢舉動 /愚蠢举动 (yúchǔn jǔdòng)foolish behaviour
Czech šaškárna, klauniáda
- šaškárnafoolish behaviour
- klauniádafoolish behaviour
Dutch gekkigheid
- gekkigheidfoolish behaviour
Finnish hölmöily, helyt
- hölmöilyfoolish behaviour
- helyt(slang) jewellery
French pitrerie, bouffonnerie
- pitreriefoolish behaviour
- bouffonneriefoolish behaviour
- niaiseriefoolish behaviour
German Unsinn, Blödsinn
- Unsinnfoolish behaviour
- Blödsinnfoolish behaviour
- Clowneriefoolish behaviour
Hungarian ostobaság, bárgyúság
- ostobaságfoolish behaviour
- bárgyúságfoolish behaviour
- sületlenségfoolish behaviour
Japanese ばかなまね
- ばかなまね (bakana mane)foolish behaviour
Lithuanian cirkas
- cirkasfoolish behaviour
Polish wygłup, figiel
- wygłupfoolish behaviour
- figielfoolish behaviour
- psikusfoolish behaviour
- bufonadafoolish behaviour
Romanian bufonerie, caraghioslâc
- bufoneriefoolish behaviour
- caraghioslâcfoolish behaviour
Russian дура́чество, шутовство́
- дура́чество (duráčestvo)foolish behaviour
- шутовство́ (šutovstvó)foolish behaviour
- фигля́рство (figljárstvo)foolish behaviour
- клоуна́да (klounáda)foolish behaviour
Spanish payasada
- payasadafoolish behaviour
Turkish soytarılık
- soytarılıkfoolish behaviour
Cite this entry
tomfoolery. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tomfoolery
“tomfoolery.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tomfoolery. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tomfoolery,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tomfoolery.
Source: tomfoolery on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.