Definition of horseplay
: rough or boisterous play
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Examples of horseplay in a Sentence
The lamp got broken when the kids were engaging in a little horseplay.
when he saw us spraying each other with the hose instead of washing the car, Dad yelled, “Cut out the horseplay!”
Recent Examples of horseplay from the Web
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There’s no horseplay, no banter, no jokes, As there was in the brighter part of the day.
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There was also Spygate and Deflategate, which were, depending on which team you root for, either the most egregious examples of wanton disregard for the rules in NFL history, or just a little bit of football horseplay.
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Choke holds are fairly common in mixed martial arts, which are becoming more popular, not to mention friendly horseplay.
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The Court of Appeals ruling upholds a trial judge’s decision to throw out Nicholas Riddle’s lawsuit blaming the Buncombe County Board of Education for a teammate’s fatal horseplay.
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Although cows and bulls are kept separate to preclude the possibility of horseplay, most dairy cows, which are kept pregnant to ensure milk production, are eventually slaughtered too.
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A felony accusation is just standard, brotherly horseplay.
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Defense attorney Gregory P. Isaacs, at a news conference Friday, said the state can’t prove that the horseplay of the boys sparked a fire in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park that caused the deadly wildfires in Gatlinburg five days later.
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Roser was watching the horseplay when the hammer struck him, Uhlir said; the weight barely missed another volunteer and, after striking Roser, continued on to hit another young man in the head, causing minor injuries.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'horseplay.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
First Known Use of horseplay
1589
horseplay Synonyms
Synonyms
buffoonery, clownery, clowning, foolery, high jinks (also hijinks), horsing around, monkey business, monkeying, monkeyshine(s), roughhouse, roughhousing, shenanigan(s), skylarking, tomfoolery;
Related Words
childishness, clownishness, foolishness, funning, jesting, joking, nonsense, silliness, waggery;
boisterousness, rambunctiousness, rowdiness, rowdyism, devilry (or deviltry), impishness, knavery, mischief, mischievousness, prankishness, rascality, roguery, roguishness, trickery;
cavorting, frivolity, frolicking, gamboling (or gambolling), merrymaking, playfulness, revelry, roistering, romping, sporting, sportiveness;
HORSEPLAY Defined for English Language Learners
Definition of horseplay for English Language Learners
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: rough or loud play : energetic and noisy playful activity
HORSEPLAY Defined for Kids
Learn More about horseplay
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See words that rhyme with horseplay Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for horseplay Spanish Central: Translation of horseplay Nglish: Translation of horseplay for Spanish speakers
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