Word.ws English Dictionary

goofball

/ˈɡufˌbɔl/

goofball noun: a foolish or silly person or animal.

Noun

goofball (plural goofballs)

  1. (derogatory, endearing, informal, often, sometimes) A foolish or silly person or animal.
    • If that goofball would put half the effort into her studies as she does into her juggling, she might do very well.
  2. (informal) A pill or tablet containing a pharmaceutical which has hypnotic or intoxicating effects, especially a barbiturate.
    • Strong Cobb & Co. of Cleveland announced a new barbiturate which in overlarge doses will turn the stomachs of "goofball" addicts and would-be suicides.1953 April 27, “Capsules”, in Time
    • That night Marylou took everything in the books; she took tea, goofballs, benny, liquor, and even asked Old Bull for a shot of M, which of course he didn’t give her; he did give her a martini.1957 September 5, Jack Kerouac, On the Road, New York, N.Y.: Viking Press, →OCLC

Adjective

goofball (not comparable)

  1. (informal) Silly.
    • He announced, with his usual goofball humor, that he'd like to marry me!

goofball meaning in Malayalam

goofball in Malayalam

goofball; simpleton; a person who acts without thinking. Occupies a semantic space between a neutral "fellow" and a "idiot."
വദൂരി vadūri

Forms of goofball

pluralgoofballs

Origin of goofball

From goof + -ball.

Words formed from goofball

Words that rhyme with goofball

Questions about goofball

What does goofball mean?
Goofball means a foolish or silly person or animal.
What is goofball in Malayalam?
Goofball in Malayalam is വദൂരി (vadūri). See Goofball meaning in Malayalam.
What part of speech is goofball?
Goofball can be a noun or an adjective.
How do you pronounce goofball?
Goofball is pronounced /ˈɡufˌbɔl/ (US).
What is the plural of goofball?
The plural of goofball is goofballs.

Words near goofball in the dictionary

  1. goof up
  2. goof-off
  3. goof-offs
  4. goof-up
  5. goof-ups
  6. goofball
  7. goofballery
  8. goofballness
  9. goofballs
  10. goofed
  11. goofed around

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: goofball (page history and authors); വദൂരി (Malayalam) (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-goofball.ogg.

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