Word.ws English Dictionary

foule

foule is the obsolete form of foul.

Meaning of foul

Adjective

foul (comparative fouler, superlative foulest)

  1. Covered with, or containing unclean matter; dirty.
    • This cloth is too foul to use as a duster.
  2. Obscene, vulgar or abusive.
    • The rascal spewed forth a series of foul words.
  3. Detestable, unpleasant, loathsome.
    • He has a foul set of friends.
  4. Disgusting, repulsive; causing disgust.
    • This foul food is making me retch.
    Synonyms:
    rank, frightful
  5. (obsolete) Ugly; homely; poor.
    • Let us, like merchants, show our foulest wares.c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
  6. Unpleasant, stormy or rainy. (of the weather)
    • Some foul weather is brewing.

See all 25 meanings of foul

Forms of foule

comparativemore foule
superlativemost foule

Questions about foule

What is foule the obsolete form of?
Foule is the obsolete form of foul.

Words near foule in the dictionary

  1. foulder
  2. fouldered
  3. fouldering
  4. foulders
  5. Foulds
  6. foule
  7. foule mudammas
  8. fouled
  9. fouled anchor
  10. fouled anchors
  11. fouled one's own nest

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: foule (page history and authors); foul (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.

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