fooling

/ˈfuːlɪŋ/

fooling is the present participle and gerund of fool.

Meaning of fool

fool (third-person singular simple present fools, present participle fooling, simple past and past participle fooled)

(transitive) To trick; to deceive.
- She bit it gently and found that it resembled a worm in no way whatsoever as to taste although because it was long and slender, a Little Red Hen might easily be fooled by its appearance.1918, Florence White Williams, The Little Red Hen
(intransitive) To act in an idiotic manner; to act foolishly.
- 1681/1682, John Dryden, The Spanish Fryar
  Is this a time for fooling?
(archaic) To make a fool of; to make act the fool.
- They fool me to the top of my bent.c. 1599 to 1601, William Shakespeare, Hamlet, III.ii.384

fooling (countable and uncountable, plural foolings)

The act of one who fools; foolish behaviour.
- I laugh at him and use every little Art in my power to make him view things in a more cheerful light, but he knows better than I do, and tho' his good nature and politeness make him appear to be diverted with my foolings, I am sensible they do not amuse his melancholy.c. 1775, Janet Schaw, Journal of a Lady of Quality

plural	foolings

What does fooling mean?: Fooling means the act of one who fools; foolish behaviour.
What is fooling the present participle and gerund of?: Fooling is the present participle and gerund of fool.
What part of speech is fooling?: Fooling is a noun.
How do you pronounce fooling?: Fooling is pronounced /ˈfuːlɪŋ/.
What is the plural of fooling?: The plural of fooling is foolings.

Adapted from Wiktionary: fooling (page history and authors); fool (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this entry: “fooling.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/fooling. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.