What's the difference between buffoon and clown?

Buffoon


Definition:

  • (n.) A man who makes a practice of amusing others by low tricks, antic gestures, etc.; a droll; a mimic; a harlequin; a clown; a merry-andrew.
  • (a.) Characteristic of, or like, a buffoon.
  • (v. i.) To act the part of a buffoon.
  • (v. t.) To treat with buffoonery.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The global face of Britain is now a buffoon (as many in Brussels describe him), whose word is as reliable as a used-car salesman’s.
  • (2) Talking last month on his late-night HBO show Last Week Tonight , Oliver ridiculed Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha's "dystopian nightmare" of a government, called Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn a "buffoon" and an "idiot", and ridiculed a clip of a contentious home video of the prince and his semi-naked wife at a poolside birthday party for their pet poodle Foo Foo.
  • (3) The National theatre's Broadway version of One Man, Two Guvnors, starring James Corden as a gluttonous buffoon, has received seven nominations at this year's Tony Awards – but was trumped by the largely British creative team behind Once , which picked up 11 to lead the pack.
  • (4) Described yesterday as a bully and buffoon, his predictions of doom under a multiracial democracy proved hollow and his support dwindled to a tiny rump.
  • (5) Well at least they wouldn't burn up on re-entry you fat-fingered buffoon.
  • (6) There’s also the fact that some of Reclaim Australia’s most prominent participants are racist buffoons of long standing .
  • (7) Even as he handed out wads of petrodollars to impoverished developing countries, their leaders mocked him behind his back for being a buffoon and a clown.
  • (8) The major parties offer a deranged rightwing sociopath provoking global war or a reality-TV buffoon with no actual policy, both of them hopelessly corrupt and staggeringly incompetent.
  • (9) Unlike Hank, Tambor need not worry that he's a talentless buffoon, but that doesn't mean he doesn't fret about it.
  • (10) The US media have seen him as an outrageous buffoon, a menace, an incipient tyrant, a creation of the fascist Twittersphere.
  • (11) Someone who seems to combine both careers, however, is Boris Johnson, who manages simultaneously to be both London mayor and zipwire-swinging buffoon.
  • (12) In my sport they literally tell you you have to act ignorant, act like a buffoon if you want to make it.
  • (13) Yesterday, the "buffoon" of South African politics was named as one of Africa's 10 most powerful young men by international business magazine Forbes.
  • (14) McMahon passed that on to his England team-mates, who figured they'd be lining out the next day against a band of bedraggled buffoons.
  • (15) Acting the buffoon is a winning political strategy, as Farage has discovered.
  • (16) "All I had ever seen was Boris being a buffoon on Have I Got News For You?.
  • (17) During the years of "kanaalen," she becomes the community buffoon who always has to play the clown.
  • (18) But in an intelligent way,” he added, “not getting embroiled in individual debates with buffoons who only want to provoke.
  • (19) Furthermore, convincing your fellow audience members that you are honestly trying to contribute will recast you not as a selfish egotist but a lovable buffoon.
  • (20) His Vietnam war heroism was recast as cowardice by George W Bush’s allies in 2004, and Bush successfully portrayed Kerry as a foppish buffoon.

Clown


Definition:

  • (n.) A man of coarse nature and manners; an awkward fellow; an ill-bred person; a boor.
  • (n.) One who works upon the soil; a rustic; a churl.
  • (n.) The fool or buffoon in a play, circus, etc.
  • (v. i.) To act as a clown; -- with it.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) He lost no time climbing on the back of the clown car of the demagogue who, with ghoulishly oedipal glee, he calls “Daddy”.
  • (2) If Kyrgios cares about his career – and sometimes he is so blase about his success, wealth and celebrity he professes to hate tennis – the hip young dude from Canberra who smirks when he should be smiling, who plainly is struggling with fame, needs to understand he is not the only clown in town.
  • (3) Another McChrystal aide reportedly called the White House national security adviser, Jim Jones, a clown who was "stuck in 1985".
  • (4) Doctor Brown In 2011, the American Phil Burgers (AKA bearded silent comic Doctor Brown) performed the funniest comedy show on the fringe : a sexy, stoner clown show that delighted, intrigued and molested its audience.
  • (5) He was also a profoundly unostentatious and reserved man, and although he undertook a great variety of roles, all were informed at heart with the wisdom of the sad clown.
  • (6) St Basil's was like a clown's nose on the face of the evil empire.
  • (7) "We've come to know each other ..." At school, Stanhope says he was too dark to be considered the class clown and, after a spell as a "fraud telemarketer" ("borderline legal stuff, trying to scam people basically"), he decided to give stand-up comedy a go at an open-mic in Las Vegas.
  • (8) The funniest sketch I’ve ever seen Roger Mann and Kevin Eldon’s “Australian clowns” dialogue in Simon Munnery’s live show Cluub Zarathustra, from 25 years ago, in which the duo described the clowning process in painful detail in stoned Australian beach-bum voices.
  • (9) As well as political statements and corny clown jokes, Madonna lamented the fact she was “very single” and had not had sex for some time.
  • (10) When the famous Rivels clowns recently came to a leading Berlin music-hall with their act, which used to include a parody of Charlie Chaplin, the clown who played the mock Charlie abandoned his little moustache and bowler and appeared in another disguise.
  • (11) Handshakes and hugs all round, from that clown Blatter and the German chancellor Angela Merkel.
  • (12) The legal challenges have been issued by a group of residents called the Preston New Road Action Group and Gayzer Frackman, a professional clown from Lytham St Annes who changed his name by deed poll from Geza Tarjanyi.
  • (13) The cupula of the supraorbital neuromast in the lateral line canal of the clown knifefish contains vertical columns.
  • (14) Afterwards, the group is photographed together, and Branson plays the clown, throwing his hands up in the air and whipping out that megawatt smile.
  • (15) This is a story about how trolls took the wheel of the clown car of modern politics.
  • (16) The latter is an intriguing vision , a trojan horse of massive deregulation of some of everything – a clown balloon horse, with rainbow polka dots and a jackass smile.
  • (17) Again, he was taken as a clown and neither arrested nor disciplined.
  • (18) "Dressing for pleasure" and "fun fashion" get a bad rap, especially for women in their middle age, as it is generally assumed that this is a euphemism for women dressing like clowns and not realising that, at their age (huff, huff), they should be wearing beige cashmere.
  • (19) Even as he handed out wads of petrodollars to impoverished developing countries, their leaders mocked him behind his back for being a buffoon and a clown.
  • (20) Further collections of sketches followed – Send Up the Clowns (2011) and House of Fun (2012).