Fool vs. Mad — What's the Difference?
Difference Between Fool and Mad
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Compare with Definitions
Fool
A person who acts unwisely or imprudently; a silly person
I felt a bit of a fool
Mad
Mentally ill; insane
He felt as if he were going mad
Fool
A jester or clown, especially one retained in a royal or noble household.
Mad
Very enthusiastic about someone or something
He's mad about football
Another myth is that Scorpios are sex-mad
Fool
A cold dessert made of pureed fruit mixed or served with cream or custard
Raspberry fool with cream
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Mad
Very angry
Don't be mad at me
Fool
Trick or deceive (someone); dupe
Don't be fooled into paying out any more of your hard-earned cash
She tried to fool herself that she had stopped loving him
Mad
Great; remarkable
This author has mad skills with the written word
I got mad respect for him
Fool
Act in a joking, frivolous, or teasing way
Some lads in the pool were fooling around
Mad
Very; extremely
He was mad cool—we immediately hit it off
Fool
Foolish; silly
That damn fool waiter
Mad
Make (someone) mad
Had I but seen thy picture in this plight, it would have madded me
Fool
One who is deficient in judgment, sense, or understanding.
Mad
Angry; resentful
Was mad about the broken vase.
Fool
One who acts unwisely on a given occasion
I was a fool to have quit my job.
Mad
Mentally deranged
"afflicted with hypochondria, depression, and fear of going mad" (Carla Cantor).
Fool
One who has been tricked or made to appear ridiculous; a dupe
They made a fool of me by pretending I had won.
Mad
Characteristic of mental derangement
Mad laughter.
Fool
(Informal) A person with a talent or enthusiasm for a certain activity
A dancing fool.
A fool for skiing.
Mad
Temporarily or apparently deranged by violent sensations, emotions, or ideas
Was mad with jealousy.
Fool
A member of a royal or noble household who provided entertainment, as with jokes or antics; a jester.
Mad
Lacking restraint or reason; foolish
I was mad to have hired her in the first place.
Fool
One who subverts convention or orthodoxy or varies from social conformity in order to reveal spiritual or moral truth
A holy fool.
Mad
Feeling or showing strong liking or enthusiasm
Mad about sports.
Fool
A dessert made of stewed or puréed fruit mixed with cream or custard and served cold.
Mad
Marked by a lack of restraint, especially by extreme excitement, confusion, or agitation
A mad scramble for the bus.
Fool
(Archaic) A mentally deficient person; an idiot.
Mad
Exhibiting uncharacteristic aggressiveness, especially as a result of rabies, spongiform encephalopathy, or another neurological disease. Used of animals
A mad dog.
A mad cow.
Fool
To deceive or trick; dupe
"trying to learn how to fool a trout with a little bit of floating fur and feather" (Charles Kuralt).
Mad
Excellent; wonderful
It's really mad that they can come.
Fool
To confound or prove wrong; surprise, especially pleasantly
We were sure they would fail, but they fooled us.
Mad
Abundant; great
Mad respect.
Fool
To speak or act facetiously or in jest; joke
I was just fooling when I said I had to leave.
Mad
To make or become mad; madden.
Fool
To behave comically; clown.
Mad
Extremely; very
This place is mad cool.
Fool
To feign; pretend
He said he had a toothache but he was only fooling.
Mad
Insane; crazy, mentally deranged.
You want to spend $1000 on a pair of shoes? Are you mad?
He's got this mad idea that he's irresistible to women.
Fool
To engage in idle or frivolous activity.
Mad
Angry, annoyed.
Are you mad at me?
Fool
To toy, tinker, or mess
Shouldn't fool with matches.
Mad
Bizarre; incredible.
It's mad that I got that job back a day after being fired.
Fool
Foolish; stupid
Off on some fool errand or other.
Mad
Wildly confused or excited.
To be mad with terror, lust, or hatred
Fool
(pejorative) A person with poor judgment or little intelligence.
You were a fool to cross that busy road without looking.
The village fool threw his own shoes down the well.
Mad
Extremely foolish or unwise; irrational; imprudent.
Fool
(historical) A jester; a person whose role was to entertain a sovereign and the court (or lower personages).
Mad
Extremely enthusiastic about; crazy about; infatuated with; overcome with desire for.
Aren't you just mad for that red dress?
Fool
(informal) Someone who derives pleasure from something specified.
Mad
(of animals) Abnormally ferocious or furious; or, rabid, affected with rabies.
A mad dog
Fool
Buddy, dude, man.
Mad
Intensifier, signifying abundance or high quality of a thing; very, much or many.
I gotta give you mad props for scoring us those tickets.
Their lead guitarist has mad skills.
There are always mad girls at those parties.
Their lead guitarist has mad skills.
There are always mad girls at those parties.
Fool
(cooking) A type of dessert made of puréed fruit and custard or cream.
An apricot fool; a gooseberry fool
Mad
(of a compass needle) Having impaired polarity.
Fool
A particular card in a tarot deck, representing a jester.
Mad
Intensifier; to a large degree; extremely; exceedingly; very; unbelievably.
He was driving mad slow.
It's mad hot today.
He seems mad keen on her.
Fool
To trick; to deceive.
Mad
To be or become mad.
Fool
To act in an idiotic manner; to act foolishly.
Mad
To madden, to anger, to frustrate.
Fool
(archaic) To make a fool of; to make act the fool.
Mad
Disordered in intellect; crazy; insane.
I have heard my grandsire say full oft,Extremity of griefs would make men mad.
Fool
(informal) Foolish.
Mad
Excited beyond self-control or the restraint of reason; inflamed by violent or uncontrollable desire, passion, or appetite; as, to be mad with terror, lust, or hatred; mad against political reform.
It is the land of graven images, and they are mad upon their idols.
And being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities.
Fool
A compound of gooseberries scalded and crushed, with cream; - commonly called gooseberry fool.
Mad
Proceeding from, or indicating, madness; expressing distraction; prompted by infatuation, fury, or extreme rashness.
Mad wars destroy in one year the works of many years of peace.
The mad promise of Cleon was fulfilled.
Fool
One destitute of reason, or of the common powers of understanding; an idiot; a natural.
Mad
Extravagant; immoderate.
Fool
A person deficient in intellect; one who acts absurdly, or pursues a course contrary to the dictates of wisdom; one without judgment; a simpleton; a dolt.
Extol not riches, then, the toil of fools.
Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other.
Mad
Furious with rage, terror, or disease; - said of the lower animals; as, a mad bull; esp., having hydrophobia; rabid; as, a mad dog.
Fool
One who acts contrary to moral and religious wisdom; a wicked person.
The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.
Mad
Angry; out of patience; vexed; as, to get mad at a person.
Fool
One who counterfeits folly; a professional jester or buffoon; a retainer formerly kept to make sport, dressed fantastically in motley, with ridiculous accouterments.
Can they think me . . . their fool or jester?
Mad
Having impaired polarity; - applied to a compass needle.
Fool
To play the fool; to trifle; to toy; to spend time in idle sport or mirth.
Is this a time for fooling?
Mad
To make mad or furious; to madden.
Had I but seen thy picture in this plight,It would have madded me.
Fool
To infatuate; to make foolish.
For, fooled with hope, men favor the deceit.
Mad
To be mad; to go mad; to rave. See Madding.
Festus said with great voice, Paul thou maddest.
Fool
To use as a fool; to deceive in a shameful or mortifying manner; to impose upon; to cheat by inspiring foolish confidence; as, to fool one out of his money.
You are fooled, discarded, and shook offBy him for whom these shames ye underwent.
Mad
An earthworm.
Fool
A person who lacks good judgment
Mad
Roused to anger;
Stayed huffy a good while
She gets mad when you wake her up so early
Mad at his friend
Sore over a remark
Fool
A person who is gullible and easy to take advantage of
Mad
Affected with madness or insanity;
A man who had gone mad
Fool
A professional clown employed to entertain a king or nobleman in the middle ages
Mad
Marked by uncontrolled excitement or emotion;
A crowd of delirious baseball fans
Something frantic in their gaiety
A mad whirl of pleasure
Fool
Make a fool or dupe of
Mad
Very foolish;
Harebrained ideas
Took insane risks behind the wheel
A completely mad scheme to build a bridge between two mountains
Fool
Spend frivolously and unwisely;
Fritter away one's inheritance
Fool
Fool or hoax;
The immigrant was duped because he trusted everyone
You can't fool me!
Fool
Indulge in horseplay;
Enough horsing around--let's get back to work!
The bored children were fooling about
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