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
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
And yes, there were cases on public roads where the horseplay turned dangerous.
—Mark Price, Miami Herald, 22 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for horseplay
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
And yes, there were cases on public roads where the horseplay turned dangerous.
—Mark Price, Miami Herald, 22 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for horseplay
Recent Examples of Synonyms for horseplay
Noun
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Self was in a joking mood when asked about the squad’s stellar defensive play.—
Gary Bedore,
Kansas City Star,
29 Oct. 2025
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Jones eventually got into his joking bag, and Bleek took that opportunity to seriously set the record straight one last time.—
Armon Sadler,
VIBE.com,
15 Oct. 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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There was nothing particularly frightening about their Viennese waltz, which was a nice change from all the creepy tomfoolery earlier in the night.—
Lynette Rice,
Deadline,
28 Oct. 2025
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This Survivor 49 challenge tomfoolery actually began before the season even started filming.—
Dalton Ross,
Entertainment Weekly,
8 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Since medieval times, the colorful fool—from court jesters to Shakespeare’s characters—has used playful wit to critique authority and buffoonery to whip up excitement.—
Time,
Time,
30 Oct. 2025
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Their relationship, tentative, intimate, and defiant, lingers long after the satirical skewering of male buffoonery has faded.—
Leila Latif,
IndieWire,
5 Sep. 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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In the end, of course, an angry mob does chase the monsters around the castle, only to be chased by them in return (the monsters having rediscovered their reason for being), which results in some serviceable monster slapstick.—
Owen Gleiberman,
Variety,
29 Oct. 2025
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The film — part chilling revenge thriller and part absurd slapstick — is riveting.—
Baz Bamigboye,
Deadline,
24 Oct. 2025
Noun
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As for footwear, Kurt Geiger’s penchant for playfulness continues.—
Julia Teti,
Footwear News,
31 Oct. 2025
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That’s a very artistic sense of playfulness.—
Billboard Japan,
Billboard,
30 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Horseplay.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/horseplay. Accessed 6 Nov. 2025.
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