How to Use oaf in a Sentence

oaf

noun
  • For us straight dudes, however, being big and hairy means getting thought of as an ape—a big, dumb, smelly oaf.
    — Dan Savage, Chicago Reader, 7 Feb. 2018
  • The other is Trump himself, an uninformed and undisciplined oaf who likes to shoot from the hip.
    — Jeet Heer, New Republic, 10 Aug. 2017
  • Yes, main character Skarin is basically a lumbering oaf without a sneaky bone in his body.
    — Chris Kohler, WIRED, 28 Mar. 2008
  • Nowhere in Hansen’s pages is the impulsive, autocratic oaf seen by many of Castro’s critics.
    — Steve Donoghue, The Christian Science Monitor, 12 Aug. 2019
  • Rob Gronkowski only played eight games, but Kelce—who played all sixteen—averaged more yards per game than New England’s lovable oaf.
    — Clay Skipper, GQ, 7 Sep. 2017
  • And in the 1939 film, the Wizard is a kind of bumbling oaf who has stumbled onto the levers of power (almost literally).
    — Bill Goodykoontz, AZCentral.com, 21 Nov. 2025
  • Adding Paul into the mix as a bumbling oaf (and not even a particularly lovable one) creates an unnecessary love triangle.
    — Brian Truitt, USA TODAY, 19 Oct. 2022
  • But, regardless of which party wins on Thursday, criticizing the oaf in the White House will continue to be an applause line.
    — John Cassidy, The New Yorker, 6 June 2017
  • Gustavo, dismissed as an oaf, seems no match for Lucia Villanueva (Emily Rios), a crime lord’s daughter.
    — Hal Boedeker, OrlandoSentinel.com, 1 July 2017
  • The pope, played by Samora la Perdida, is a mincing oaf who bickers with Galas about the value of translating Wagner.
    — Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 19 Sep. 2025
  • Austin Theory’s character is literally an oaf who made another foolish decision that led to Johnny Gargano’s loss.
    — Alfred Konuwa, Forbes, 25 Feb. 2021
  • Though comic buffoons and yokels are scattered through a number of Shakespeare’s tragedies, Lear’s universe is relentlessly bleak, and the Fool, despite his jingling, is neither oaf nor jester.
    — Cynthia Ozick, New York Times, 25 Oct. 2017
  • No one who touched the ball in the opposing penalty area as often as Kane was as good at not losing possession, showing that a target man doesn’t have to be a lumbering oaf whose primary skill is measuring in at over 6-foot-3.
    — Jonathan Clegg, WSJ, 18 June 2018
  • Sung Kang-ho as The Weird, in particular, delivers a tremendous performance, equal parts clown, trickster, and something more, sliding between oaf and mystery man with unsettling ease.
    — Joshua Rivera, GQ, 1 July 2017
  • The Irish independence-supporting Fenians, represented primarily by hotheaded oaf Paddy (Seamus O’Hara) and his more strategically minded sister Ellen (Niamh McCormack), loathe the family’s conservative unionist policies.
    — Angie Han, HollywoodReporter, 25 Sep. 2025
  • Star-studded, and then some, the upcoming show boasts giant of stage and screen John Lithgow as Hogwarts Headmaster Albus Dumbledore, Golden Globe winner Janet McTeer as stern but wise Professor Minerva McGonagall, and comedy stalwart Nick Frost as gentle oaf Rubeus Hagrid.
    — Charlotte Reck, CNN Money, 26 Mar. 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'oaf.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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