Word.ws English Dictionary

plays the fool

plays the fool is the third-person singular simple present indicative of play the fool.

Meaning of play the fool

Verb

play the fool (third-person singular simple present plays the fool, present participle playing the fool, simple past and past participle played the fool)

  1. (idiomatic) To behave in a foolish or comical manner.
    • Back in school again, Maxwell plays the fool again
      Teacher gets annoyed1969, Paul McCartney, “Maxwell's Silver Hammer”, in Abbey Road, performed by The Beatles
  2. (idiomatic) To pretend or feign ignorance.
    • I play the fool when we're together
      But I cry when we're apart, yeah
      I couldn't do you no better
      Don't break what's left of my broken heart, baby1980, Prince, “Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?”, in Prince

Questions about plays the fool

What is plays the fool the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Plays the fool is the third-person singular simple present indicative of play the fool.

Words near plays the fool in the dictionary

  1. plays the clitar
  2. plays the deuce with
  3. plays the devil with
  4. plays the dickens with
  5. plays the field
  6. plays the fool
  7. plays the game
  8. plays the giddy goat
  9. plays the giddy ox
  10. plays the hand one is dealt
  11. plays the man

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: plays the fool (page history and authors); play the 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.

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