1
as in humorous
causing or intended to cause laughter
antic shenanigans that made me nearly fall over with laughter
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in playful
given to good-natured joking or teasing
an antic group of kids at summer camp
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in prank
a playful or mischievous act intended as a joke
we'll have no more of your antics, so just settle down
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of antic
Celia Bell
july 22, Literary Hub, 22 July 2025
The characters do antic, no-stakes things that require little explanation and often defy logic.
—Sophie Gilbert, The Atlantic, 17 July 2025
Jay Stahl, USA Today, 22 Oct. 2025
But even before that arrival, Mitchell was kicked out of the house by her roommates due to her drunken antics and unstable behavior.
—Breanne L. Heldman, Entertainment Weekly, 21 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for antic
Adjective
For all the novel’s antic vignettes about magic flutes and egg children and dragon soup, there’s something deeply private about The Stone Door, an insistence that no reader, no outsider, be fully allowed to understand its plot.
—Celia Bell
july 22, Literary Hub, 22 July 2025
The characters do antic, no-stakes things that require little explanation and often defy logic.
—Sophie Gilbert, The Atlantic, 17 July 2025
Noun
Despite her occasional antics in Washington DC, Crockett is a likely frontrunner among Texas primary voters, according to a University of Houston/Texas Southern University poll released earlier this month.
—Jay Stahl, USA Today, 22 Oct. 2025
But even before that arrival, Mitchell was kicked out of the house by her roommates due to her drunken antics and unstable behavior.
—Breanne L. Heldman, Entertainment Weekly, 21 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for antic
Recent Examples of Synonyms for antic
Adjective
-
There can be humorous, self-deprecating responses.—
Rob Tanner,
New York Times,
10 Nov. 2025
-
While on the podcast, Kiyoko also offered humorous insight into her summer proposal to fiancé Tilley, 37, in Mallorca after seven years of dating.—
Lex Goldstein,
PEOPLE,
8 Nov. 2025
Adjective
-
And based on the tight bonds he's formed with his costars (not to mention lots of playful, platonic PDA), the feeling is very mutual.—
Julie Jordan,
PEOPLE,
4 Nov. 2025
-
Outfielder Kiké Hernández had some fun at Drake’s expense and took a playful shot at Drizzy when addressing the Dodger Stadium crowd on the mic.—
Michael Saponara,
Billboard,
4 Nov. 2025
Noun
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People submit clips of themselves performing the prank, the original poster selects a winner, and the award is distributed in Solana tokens.—
PC Magazine,
PC Magazine,
4 Nov. 2025
-
According to a 2015 Time Magazine story, the tradition of benign pranks began sometime in the 1930s and 1940s in the United States, brought on perhaps as a way to defuse the tensions of economic devastation and the pain of war.—
Phaedra Trethan,
USA Today,
30 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
It’s been 48 years since Three’s Company brought together three zany roommates — who weren’t supposed to be living together, according to the landlord’s rules — who charmed the world with their comedic antics.—
Julie Tremaine,
PEOPLE,
9 Nov. 2025
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Ingmar Bergman’s early-fifties soap commercials put daring methods—metafiction, animation, and even a 3-D parody—to comedic ends.—
Hilton Als,
New Yorker,
7 Nov. 2025
Noun
-
Dom tried his usual tricks, such as leaving the match to get counted out, but Cena stopped him and brought him back to the ring.—
Matthew Couden,
MSNBC Newsweek,
11 Nov. 2025
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And the action ranges from dueling card tricks to the kind of honest-to-God fights that merely serve to remind us that balletic action films really are magic tricks.—
Owen Gleiberman,
Variety,
11 Nov. 2025
Adjective
-
Anyone vaguely near the aesthetic gets christened it by fans, including Bassvictim, who were always funnier and more creative than the other modern electroclash revivalists.—
Kieran Press-Reynolds,
Pitchfork,
6 Nov. 2025
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The performance is funny and manic and just the right amount of sad and desperate.—
Daniel Fienberg,
HollywoodReporter,
6 Nov. 2025
Adjective
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With Bush out of town on that fateful day, Cheney was a steady presence in the White House, at least until Secret Service agents lifted him off his feet and carried him away, in a scene the vice president later described to comical effect.—
Calvin Woodward,
Fortune,
4 Nov. 2025
-
Tottenham Hotspur were twice beaten in comical circumstances on Chelsea’s previous visits to north London.—
Jay Harris,
New York Times,
2 Nov. 2025
Adjective
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Arthur is known as Conkling’s hatchet man, a customs collector for the Port of New York who’s shown, in one amusing snippet, presiding over the beating of a noncompliant businessman.—
Scott Tobias,
Vulture,
6 Nov. 2025
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Garner is a brilliant observer and listener — every page has a surprising, sharp or amusing thought.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
5 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Antic.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/antic. Accessed 16 Nov. 2025.
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