clowns

Noun

clown (plural clowns)

1. A slapstick performance artist often associated with a circus and usually characterized by bright, oversized clothing, a red nose, face paint, and a brightly colored wig.
   • Apart from the many instances in which Stalin himself held the top position-as philosopher, theoretician, statesman, strategist, economist, etc.--it was known, for example, who was the greatest painter, biologist, or circus clown.1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume III: The Breakdown, Oxford: Clarendon Press, translation of Główne nurty marksizmu: rozkład (in...
2. A person who acts in a silly fashion.
   • He was regarded as the clown of the school, always playing pranks.

   Synonyms:

   buffoon, fool

3. A stupid person.
   • "The dealers snatched at the state of intellectual exhaustion and scepticism of all values that followed the first world war to abolish values and substitute for them an arbitrary mumbo-jumbo of occultism and pseudo-Freudianism, which they tagged on to the works of studio clowns like Picasso and...1950, Norman Lindsay, Dust or Polish?, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 81
4. (archaic) A man of coarse nature and manners; an awkward fellow; an illbred person; a boor.
   • This loutish clown is such that you never saw so ill - favoured a vizara. 1587, Philippe Sidnei [i.e., Philip Sidney], “(please specify the folio)”, in [Fulke Greville; Matthew Gwinne; John Florio], editors, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New Arcadia], London...
5. (archaic) One who works upon the soil; a rustic; a churl; a yokel.
   • The clown, the child of nature, without guile.1782–1785, William Cowper, “(please specify the page)”, in The Task, a Poem, […], London: […] J[oseph] Johnson; […], →OCLC
6. A clownfish.
   • While the tomato clownfish Amphiprion frenatus has been spawned in captivity, wild-caught tomato clowns are more often seen for sale.2006, Tropical Fish Hobbyist, volume 54, numbers 5-8, page 32

See all 8 meanings of clown