- Home
- Idioms
- make a fool of
make a fool of
make a fool (out) of someone
and make a monkey (out) of someoneto make someone look foolish. John made a monkey out of himself while trying to make a fool out of Jim. John made a fool out of himself at the party. Are you trying to make a monkey out of me?
make a fool of yourself
also make a fool of somebody to do something which makes you appear ridiculous If you're afraid to make a fool of yourself, you will never be a successful performer. My former husband thought it was fun to make a fool of me.
Related vocabulary: make a spectacle of yourselfmake a fool of yourself
to do something which makes you seem stupid He's always getting drunk and making a fool of himself at parties.
make a fool of
Also, make an ass or monkey out of . Cause someone or oneself to look foolish or stupid. For example, John doesn't mind making a fool of himself at parties, or They made an ass of me by giving me the wrong instructions, or Just watch him make a monkey out of this amateur chess player. The use of fool and ass date from the early 1600s; the latter is sometimes put more rudely as make a horse's ass of, alluding to a horse's behind. The use of monkey dates from about 1900.