Meaning & use
goofball
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Meaning
nouncountableinformalhumorous
A silly, playful person who likes making others laugh.
Grammar: Takes a/an and has a plural: a goofball, goofballs.
Patterns
- a goofball at something
My brother is such a goofball that he wears a cape to breakfast.
Don't mind him, he's just a lovable goofball.
The class goofball made everyone laugh during the assembly.
Word forms
| plural | goofballs |
|---|
Common combinations
- lovable goofball
- Our dog is a lovable goofball.
- total goofball
- He's a total goofball at parties.
- class goofball
- The class goofball cracked a joke at the wrong moment.
- act like a goofball
- Stop acting like a goofball and help me.
Synonyms and how they differ
- clown
- Clown suggests someone who deliberately performs for laughs, and can sound a little critical.
- silly
- Silly is an adjective for the quality, while goofball names the person, with more affection.
- dork
- Dork focuses on awkwardness and can feel insulting, whereas goofball is mostly warm.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: goofball or goof?
goofball vs goof
Goof as a noun means a silly person or a blunder, and goofball is a slightly more playful variation for a person.
Practice
Which sentence best shows goofball used affectionately?
Choose one answer.
Goofball is a playful, affectionate term for a silly person. The other options use it for serious wrongdoing or give it a false meaning.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “goofball”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.