prankish

adjective

prank·​ish ˈpraŋ-kish How to pronounce prankish (audio)
1
: full of pranks
a prankish child
2
: having the nature of a prank
prankish acts
prankishly adverb
prankishness noun

Examples of prankish in a Sentence

told the prankish lad that someone would eventually get hurt if he kept it up
Recent Examples on the Web Think of him on Hot 97 with a straight face, occasionally a prankish smirk, pushing a theory that Ray J is a pivotal influence on all of Black culture. Alphonse Pierre, Pitchfork, 16 Feb. 2024 By Spencer Kornhaber January 31, 2024, 7 AM ET The comeback single for the prankish rapper Lil Nas X has flopped in the best way possible: by debuting, on the Billboard Hot 100, at No. 69. Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 31 Jan. 2024 During the memorial, speeches by friends and family included little talk of Honest Abe but plenty of tributes to Mann’s wit, intelligence, prankish spirit and love of New York City. Jennifer Schuessler, New York Times, 24 Jan. 2024 His adaptations revel in their prankish infidelity, their frenetic reassembling of beloved literary texts. Phillip MacIak, The New Republic, 11 Oct. 2023 Where the artist could be prankish and evasive on camera, his reflections on his youth are occasionally sombre or melancholy, qualities that Yeun brings out. Hua Hsu, The New Yorker, 29 Mar. 2023 There’s something slyly prankish in that last line, as though a rug were being pulled out from under one’s feet. Meghan O’Gieblyn, The New York Review of Books, 2 Mar. 2023 Some of the jokes may be prankish, but there’s no cruelty in them. Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 23 Dec. 2019 Fake events on Facebook have taken off as a prankish form of internet humor in the last five years, including Limp Bizkit concerts in Detroit and Smash Mouth in Tulsa. Dylan Bouscher, The Denver Post, 16 July 2019

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

Word History

First Known Use

1776, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of prankish was in 1776

Dictionary Entries Near prankish

Cite this Entry

“Prankish.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/prankish. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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