Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An incompetent, foolish, or stupid person.
  • noun A careless mistake; a slip.
  • intransitive verb To make a silly mistake; blunder.
  • intransitive verb To waste or kill time.
  • intransitive verb To tease or make fun of someone.
  • intransitive verb To spoil, as through clumsiness; bungle. Usually used with up:

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun colloq. a stupid fool.
  • intransitive verb to commit a faux pas or fault.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun US A mistake or error
  • noun US As a specific usage in film, an error made during production which finds its way into the final release.
  • noun US A foolish person
  • noun A child molester.
  • verb US To make a mistake.
  • verb US To engage in mischief.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a man who is a stupid incompetent fool
  • noun a person who amuses others by ridiculous behavior
  • verb commit a faux pas or a fault or make a serious mistake

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Possibly alteration of dialectal goff, fool, from obsolete French goffe, stupid.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Perhaps from dialect goff ("foolish clown") from early modern English goffen

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Examples

  • Should help promote the benefits of martial arts, though. (permanent screengrab of the goof is here, for when they finally fix the error)

    Boing Boing: December 15, 2002 - December 21, 2002 Archives 2002

  • NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday demanded the resignation of Minister of State for Women and Child Development Krishna Tirath for what it called a goof-up in the advertisement issued by her Ministry.

    The Hindu - Front Page 2010

  • It's all crap, and the Democractic Party will once again goof up by taking the nomination away from Hillary Clinton.

    Poll: Obama gaining support with key Clinton demographics 2008

  • Is it just me or is Terry McAuliffe the biggest spin goof doctor in political history!

    Clinton makes popular vote pitch in new ad 2008

  • MALVEAUX: Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama admitting what he says he calls a goof-off in high school who experimented with alcohol and drugs.

    CNN Transcript Nov 21, 2007 2007

  • Perhaps the biggest goof is to drop the American from American Indian, as President Bush did at the ceremony while noting that ‘like many Indian dwellings, the new museum building faces east toward the rising sun.’

    The Volokh Conspiracy » Native American, American Indian, and Indian: 2004

  • Perhaps the biggest goof is to drop the American from American Indian, as President Bush did at the ceremony while noting that ‘like many Indian dwellings, the new museum building faces east toward the rising sun.’

    The Volokh Conspiracy » 2004 » September 2004

  • I mean look at Bill Murray, before he did Lost in Translation he was always known as the goof ball comedic actor, and then completely sent everyone into a total 180* with one of the best comedic/dramatic performances I have ever seen.

    Chris Pontius Cast in Sofia Coppola’s Somewhere | /Film 2009

  • I mean look at Bill Murray, before he did Lost in Translation he was always known as the goof ball comedic actor, and then completely sent everyone into a total 180* with one of the best comedic/dramatic performances I have ever seen.

    Chris Pontius Cast in Sofia Coppola’s Somewhere | /Film 2009

  • Many Canadians will quickly dismiss Coulter as a goof, which is just as easy as her dismissing Canadians as a bunch of beer-guzzling hosers.

    London Free Press 2010

Comments

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  • Another -oof word that's actually in the WordNet database but which WeirdNet fails to display here. As is proof. I think we have a pattern... and an odd-sounding bug report in the making.

    March 21, 2009

  • The sort of person who, when being drowned by a known attacker, will still come up for that last desperate breath and cry, voice thick with sincerity and passion, "I lerve you!"

    January 3, 2010