as in cutting up
to engage in attention-getting playful or boisterous behavior
as a youngster he was always clowning around in the classroom
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for clowning (around)
Verb
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Meanwhile, as all of this is happening, Meredith is cutting up with the other ladies at the spa, without a care in the world.—
Tom Smyth,
Vulture,
31 Dec. 2025 -
Ford is planning on cutting up to 1,000 roles in electric-vehicle production in Germany.—
Hugh Cameron,
MSNBC Newsweek,
16 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Bevel was horsing around with the Reverend James Orange and Andy Young in the courtyard under King's balcony, according to Orange.—
Gail Sheehy,
Vanity Fair,
20 Feb. 2026
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In April 2020, Iglesias shared a video of him horsing around with Lucy and Nicholas as the pair attempted to climb on his back for a ride.—
Andrea Wurzburger,
PEOPLE,
19 Jan. 2026
Verb
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The transition was rough for Ansari, who wasn’t fluent in English and often got in trouble for fooling around in school.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
7 Feb. 2026
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Gisin hopes that by fooling around with measurements of these more exotic states, physicists will come to better understand the role of measurement in general.—
Quanta Magazine,
Quanta Magazine,
8 Aug. 2025
Verb
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On March 2—one day before debuting her new pageboy bob at Paris Fashion Week—Hadid made her grand entrance in a pair of straight-leg jeans that stop well above the ankle, showing off much of her beige crew sock and the entire tongue of her black loafers.—
Emily Tannenbaum,
Glamour,
7 Mar. 2026
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Nadella wrote in an October X post showing off the abiltiy to toggle between Anthropic and OpenAI models in Microsoft 365 Copilot.—
Jordan Novet,
CNBC,
6 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Bruce, as the stunt shark built to menace them is nicknamed, is acting up and delaying the acting itself.—
Christopher Smith,
Oc Register,
10 Mar. 2026
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Meanwhile, the guests, who have literally just arrived five minutes ago, are already acting up.—
Rafaela Bassili,
Vulture,
10 Mar. 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Clowning (around).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/clowning%20%28around%29. Accessed 11 Mar. 2026.
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