fool around

Idioms  

1. Also, monkey around . Engage in idle or casual activity, putter. For example, Jim loved to fool around with his computer , or She was monkeying around with some figures in hopes of balancing the budget . [Second half of 1800s]

2. Engage in frivolous activity, waste time. For example, Instead of studying, he spends all his spare time fooling around . Also see fool away .

3. Engage in flirting or casual sexual acts; also, engage in adultery. For example, He caught the two teenagers fooling around in the basement . [1830s]

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Example Sentences

"He'd fool around at the reception desk and would check patients in," he says.

From BBC • Apr. 14, 2026

Swallows, with their forked black tails, fool around in the wind by the raw bluff face, just beneath a stretch of floppy, black, muddy pipe that used to be underground.

From Seattle Times • Jul. 28, 2023

“I would just fool around on the instrument, getting used to the space and the sound,” he told Colorado Public Radio.

From New York Times • Jun. 27, 2023

The group lingered to snap photos and fool around, building a hump of snow for taking jumps.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 28, 2023

In those days people didn’t linger and fool around like people do now, with tubes hanging out their mouths and making doctors rich and all this.

From "The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother" by James McBride