as in funning
wildly playful or mischievous behavior
all that monkeying was sure to end in someone or something getting hurt
Synonyms & Similar Words
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as in prankish
Related Words
Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for monkeying
Adjective
-
Angela Balogh Calin’s costumes prepare the way for Ionesco’s prankish jokes.—
Theater Critic,
Los Angeles Times,
13 May 2026 -
Caltech is a sort of nerd Valhalla, where brilliant and creative youngsters study and engage in prankish mischief.—
Graeme Wood,
The Atlantic,
26 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
For Shorts, the label will appear as a small overlay at the bottom of the video itself, although that will add to the already cluttered look of the TikTok-aping Shorts.—
ArsTechnica,
ArsTechnica,
27 May 2026
-
There’s a word for this type of storytelling, and Taccone deserves credit for delivering a superior version of this without outright aping its most famous practitioner.—
David Fear,
Rolling Stone,
24 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Sometimes a playful comment, an unexpected reply or a joking callout between brands takes on a life of its own online.—
Expert Panel®,
Forbes.com,
20 May 2026
-
Despite that underlying tension, kids play on the street outside while the large family has a dynamic like any other — noisily squabbling, joking, or in the case of the matriarchal grandmother, Mariam (Hiam Abbass), preparing a meal in a kitchen plagued by constant utility outages.—
David Rooney,
HollywoodReporter,
15 May 2026
Adjective
-
Leach also would publicly call out his players and could get ornery when questioned about his team’s shortcomings.—
Ralph D. Russo,
New York Times,
2 June 2026
-
The rabbi is ornery, arrogant, sometimes cruel.—
Daniel Felsenthal,
Vulture,
26 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
Start copying Lopez below for as little as $20.—
Izzy Baskette,
PEOPLE,
4 June 2026
-
Simple tasks, like drawing lines or copying text, did not reveal major differences between the two groups.—
Khloe Quill,
FOXNews.com,
1 June 2026
Noun
-
The clowning might be a little too effortful.—
Theater Critic,
Los Angeles Times,
13 May 2026
-
As the race unfolds in real time, there’s clowning, collisions, sabotage, surprises, comedy, chaos and more.—
Pam Kragen,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
13 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
The main Palm Dog went to Yuri, the roguish stray at the heart of Chilean director Dominga Sotomayor’s La Perra, premiering in Directors’ Fortnight.—
Scott Roxborough,
HollywoodReporter,
22 May 2026
-
Acquiring sports teams and land For much of his life a partying roustabout who wooed beautiful women with a roguish charm, the lean, mustachioed sportsman married three times.—
David Bauder,
Chicago Tribune,
6 May 2026
Verb
-
Instead, pluralism, naturally associated with diversity and popular agency, was made into the cultural face of capitalism—it was branded as a false openness mimicking the free market, as a flattening that might cause art and art history to lose the threads of progress and quality.—
Katy Siegel,
Artforum,
2 June 2026
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Inspired by wetland plants like mangroves, 12-year-old Ella Barth and Esme Tsai’s prototype glass funnel uses layers of coffee filter paper, gravel, sand, ion exchange resin, charcoal and cotton, mimicking a natural filtration process to help rid local tap water of its chalky taste.—
Karen Billing,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
2 June 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Monkeying.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/monkeying. Accessed 10 Jun. 2026.
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