high jinks

plural noun

ˈhī-ˌjiŋks 

variants or less commonly hijinks

: boisterous or rambunctious carryings-on : carefree antics or horseplay

Synonyms of high jinks

• joking
• shenanigan(s)
• funning
• horsing around
• monkey business
• clowning
• tomfoolery
• buffoonery
• monkeyshine(s)
• monkeying
• skylarking
• roughhousing
• roughhouse
• horseplay

Examples of high jinks in a Sentence

despite the team's dismal record, the players have won over many fans with their exuberant high jinks

Recent Examples on the Web

In the ad, which was posted to Instagram on Wednesday, Sweeney is shown in a cozy sweater eating a big ice cream sundae while watching TV, a nod to Kevin McCallister’s (Macaulay Culkin) unsupervised high jinks Home Alone. — Daysia Tolentino, Entertainment Weekly, 21 Oct. 2026

After months of legal high jinks under a stay of execution, all that stood between the Universal Ostrich Farms flock and death was the possibility—slim, said experts—that Canada’s Supreme Court would agree to hear the case. — J. B. MacKinnon, Harpers Magazine, 22 Sep. 2026

But unlike the Peter Farrelly film, By Any Means — which was directed by Elegance Bratton and written by Sascha Penn — isn’t interested in cloying depictions of interracial high jinks and bonding. — Alison Willmore, Vulture, 4 Sep. 2026

Amid pratfalls and slapstick high jinks, Curry conducts his costars in a symphony of chaos, and rattles off zinger after zinger while also conveying the plot and ultimately the denouement in his machine-gun line readings. — Brian Truitt, USA Today, 26 Aug. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1825, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for high jinks

• methinks
• syrinx
• binks
• blinks
• chinks
• drinks
• hinks
• inks
• jinx
• kinks
• links
• lynx

Kids Definition

high jinks

plural noun

ˈhī-ˈjiŋks

: wild or rowdy behavior