What's the difference between clownery and tomfoolery?

Clownery


Definition:

  • (n.) Clownishness.

Example Sentences:

Tomfoolery


Definition:

  • (n.) Folly; trifling.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The equaliser came from United’s first chance of any note and it followed a bit of tomfoolery from the West Ham fans behind De Gea’s goal.
  • (2) Anderson has long been an admirer of Robert Altman, another herbalist of renown, and Inherent Vice’s reeling tomfoolery is a bit reminiscent of MASH (from where The Last Supper pastiche is also pinched , if you can pinch a pastiche).
  • (3) But a week later, on Friday 15 May, the bug in Perkins’s car caught his passenger, Jones, bragging: “The biggest cash robbery in history at the time and now the biggest tom [short for tomfoolery, slang for jewellery] in the fucking world, that’s what they are saying … And what a book you could write, fucking hell.” That day Perkins also said stolen Indian gold could be his pension: “I’m going to melt my good gold down.” Later, Asian necklaces, bangles and pendants were recovered.
  • (4) 10.07pm BST 48 min: Brazil pile forward in search of ... something, apparently oblivious to the fact that it's that sort of tomfoolery that got them into this horrible mess in the first place.
  • (5) Even when she is enjoying a wee bit of carnal tomfoolery, it is all sophisticated.
  • (6) On one Little Britain web forum, cited last year by the columnist Johann Hari, the link between prime-time tomfoolery and social attitudes became crystal clear: "Down here in Bristol," wrote one subscriber, "we have an area called Southmead, which is absolutely packed with Vickys wearing fluorescent tracksuits.
  • (7) A bit of harmless tomfoolery that verges on the moving.
  • (8) As well as using Twitter to encourage online activity, she answered absurd questions on Reddit, spearheaded an eight-hour reading of the 1961 science-fiction novel Solaris , organised a flashmob in Oslo, collaborated with Lady Gaga on a video recreating the famous Abramovic Method in the nude, and practised some light-hearted tomfoolery as she described with deliberate deadpan just how many hours it takes a performance artist to change a light bulb .
  • (9) James and the Heat quickly put an end to the tomfoolery with a blowout Game 2 win , and proceeded to win the next three games to advance to the Eastern Conference finals, to face the Indiana Pacers.
  • (10) I see your argument about horses, the World Spirit, and about tomfoolery and disrespect, as well as why and how all these elements are so connected to each other.
  • (11) 3.09pm GMT 84 min: Gascoigne nails a glorious 60-yard crossfield pass to Lineker, who is just about to put the ball back in the box when Platt is penalized for some off-the-ball tomfoolery 3.09pm GMT 83 min: That’s Lineker’s tenth World Cup goal: four this year and six in 1986.
  • (12) Tunnel tomfoolery: The teams walk out of the Old Trafford tunnel holding their little mini-me mascots by the hand.
  • (13) Judged in terms of emotional voltage and sheer nail-biting fascination, Foster's monologue (not so much a public declaration that she is gay as a celebration of privacy in general) risked casting Argo's high-wire antics as so much excitable tomfoolery.
  • (14) Somehow, this bit of tomfoolery – so old that one imagines even the Harlem Globetrotters have phased it out – has caused enough controversy to provoke the ire of the NBA.

Words possibly related to "clownery"

Words possibly related to "tomfoolery"