as in joking
wildly playful or mischievous behavior
when he saw us spraying each other with the hose instead of washing the car, Dad yelled, "Cut out the horseplay!"
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of horseplay
Butch Baker, who was Henry County sheriff until 2014, recalled an incident in which Bertram was accused of inappropriate horseplay at the community corrections office.
—
Tony Cook, IndyStar, 2 July 2025
The action anime feature for everyone who couldn’t get enough of the horseplay in The Two Towers has finally cantered onto Max.
—Savannah Salazar, Vulture, 1 Mar. 2025
Mike Vrabel’s back And the horseplay is going to stop, apparently.
—Josh Kendall, The Athletic, 11 Feb. 2025
Key speeches are faithfully delivered to an audience of two, not thousands; a scene of soldiers destructively revelling on a bridge is given a different spirit by ironic, out-of-time horseplay.
—Guy Lodge, Variety, 8 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for horseplay
Tony Cook, IndyStar, 2 July 2025
The action anime feature for everyone who couldn’t get enough of the horseplay in The Two Towers has finally cantered onto Max.
—Savannah Salazar, Vulture, 1 Mar. 2025
Mike Vrabel’s back And the horseplay is going to stop, apparently.
—Josh Kendall, The Athletic, 11 Feb. 2025
Key speeches are faithfully delivered to an audience of two, not thousands; a scene of soldiers destructively revelling on a bridge is given a different spirit by ironic, out-of-time horseplay.
—Guy Lodge, Variety, 8 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for horseplay
Recent Examples of Synonyms for horseplay
Noun
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Cole follows up with a joking request to appear on an interlude on the forthcoming project, then asks whether West could send him a care package of clothes — which West agrees to — before exiting the stage.—
Jessica Lynch,
Billboard,
28 Dec. 2025
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Our poll’s options include a joking reference to Dan Marino.—
Greg Cote
December 20,
Miami Herald,
20 Dec. 2025
Noun
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The actor shared rare photos of the teen with his younger siblings, getting it in at the gym, hiking, and roughhousing.—
Elizabeth Ayoola,
Essence,
10 Nov. 2025
Noun
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Art, meanwhile, occupies a lonely table in the pizzeria and tries to put on his best clowning act for the two women.—
Declan Gallagher,
Entertainment Weekly,
31 Oct. 2025
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As with older clowning traditions, the early American circus clowns were adults performing taboo acts to shock and delight other adults.—
Time,
Time,
30 Oct. 2025
Noun
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This is why some people work nine hours a day, go to the gym, and roughhouse with their kids in the evening, while others already feel tired just thinking about this daily schedule.—
Lieke ten Brummelhuis,
Forbes.com,
1 Sep. 2025
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This makes the roughhouse ballet a satisfying bridge to the final scene in Roberta’s room, where their vulnerabilities are revealed.—
Peter Marks,
Washington Post,
14 Nov. 2023
Noun
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But enough of all that tomfoolery, because there is one person on the beach who knows exactly what is about to happen!—
Dalton Ross,
Entertainment Weekly,
6 Nov. 2025
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This prevalence, however, has led to widespread quality-control tomfoolery.—
Brock Keeling,
Oc Register,
6 Nov. 2025
Noun
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Death by Lightning, adapted by Mike Makowsky from Candice Millard’s 2011 nonfiction book and directed by Matt Ross, hums with the strength of these performances, particularly Shannon’s quiet composure and Macfadyen mining new depths of buffoonery.—
Roxana Hadadi,
Vulture,
1 Dec. 2025
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Scholz-Carlson’s staging pushes against the deep misogyny of Da Ponte’s libretto by accentuating the buffoonery of the two male romantic leads.—
Sheila Regan,
Twin Cities,
2 Nov. 2025
Noun
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As for Abdul-Mateen, the clownery will resume for him on Broadway.—
Jessica Wang,
EW.com,
1 Sep. 2022
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Tirhakah Love is a senior writer at New York Magazine and the host of the new evening newsletter Dinner Party, a daily email that touches on all things entertainment — that means film, television, music, tech, and gaming — plus politics and corporate clownery.—
Vulture,
Vulture,
29 Apr. 2022
Noun
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Park stages Man-su’s homicide attempts as slapstick set pieces in which our clumsy antihero himself barely gets out alive.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
6 Jan. 2026
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Lee throws himself into all of it with a sad-sack slapstick energy that never undercuts—and, remarkably, even enhances—the psychological acuity of his acting.—
Justin Chang,
New Yorker,
23 Dec. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Horseplay.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/horseplay. Accessed 11 Jan. 2026.
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