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The Collaborative International Dictionary
Buffoonery

Buffoonery \Buf*foon"er*y\, n.; pl. Buffooneries. [F. bouffonnerie.] The arts and practices of a buffoon, as low jests, ridiculous pranks, vulgar tricks and postures.

Nor that it will ever constitute a wit to conclude a tart piece of buffoonery with a ``What makes you blush?''
--Spectator.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
buffoonery

1620s; see buffoon + -ery.

Wiktionary
buffoonery

n. foolishness, silliness; the behaviour expected of a buffoon.

WordNet
buffoonery

n. acting like a clown or buffoon [syn: clowning, frivolity, harlequinade, prank]

Usage examples of "buffoonery".

All of these, all that man could think of or had thought of long enoughall the madness and the wit, all the buffoonery and the viciousness, all the lightness and the sadness which all men, in all ages, from the cave up to the present moment, had fashioned in their minds were in this very place.

I went to the coffee-house, not doubting for one moment that his excellency would laugh at the captain, and that the post-mortem buffoonery would greatly amuse the whole of Corfu.

She had, naturally, a grand, dignified air, which was in strange contrast to the grotesque buffoonery of her poethusband.

I feel more fully its antediluvian antiquity, its centuries of mummification, which will soon degenerate into hopeless and grotesque buffoonery, as it comes into contact with Western novelties.

Now the reason why Addison and cultivated men in general do not laugh at buffooneries and place them in the catalogue of false humour, is simply because they do not present to their minds any complication.

Casti had neither a fine style, nor a knowledge of dramatic requirements, as appears from two or three comic operas composed by him, in which the reader will find nothing but foolish buffooneries badly put together.

It was chockablock with salons and saloons, hippodromes and nickel pitches, emporia, divertissements, hijinks, kickshaws, bagatelles, burlesque, and buffoonery.

And with your, umm, strong personality you will cut like a blade through the buffoonery and obstructionism of the various turf warriors here at the Base.

The grimaces and caperings of buffoonery, the gymnastics of the punster and the parodist, the revels of pure nonsense may be, at their best, a refreshment and delight, but they are not comedy, and have proved in effect not a little hostile to the existence of comedy.

Virtually every early description of teen-age Ray Bradbury by a personal acquaintance speaks of unfailing affability, puncture-proof good nature, constant buffoonery, and self-effacement.

Casti had neither a fine style, nor a knowledge of dramatic requirements, as appears from two or three comic operas composed by him, in which the reader will find nothing but foolish buffooneries badly put together.

For the thing that chiefly delights a man, when some, woman has gone through the solemn buffoonery of yielding to his great love, is the sharp and flattering contrast between her reserve in the presence of other men and her enchanting complaisance in the presence of himself.

But it is less easy for an English, French, or Italian critic than a German to pardon the incongruities, incoherences, and silly buffooneries which mar the opera.

The buffooneries cannot be separated from the sublimities without disrupting the piece, nor can its doggerel be turned into dignified verse.

I myself, in fact, caused a number of these complaints to be lodged, in the hope that the resultant buffooneries would give me entertainment in those dull days of war, with all intellectual activities adjourned, and maybe promote the sale of the book.