as in funning
wildly playful or mischievous behavior
all that monkeying was sure to end in someone or something getting hurt
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
as in ornery
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for monkeying
Adjective
-
That puts him in league with ornery old-timers being refused entry into supermarkets, where customers queue outside, standing six feet apart.—
David Rooney,
HollywoodReporter,
16 May 2025 -
An ornery Ball Arena audience erupted when its team somehow grasped a 71-69 lead.—
Bennett Durando,
Denver Post,
9 May 2025
Verb
-
What sets Fay apart, too, is the harmonious amalgamation of characteristically Italian design with the sensibility of New England—and its earnest commitment not to appropriating or copying a certain aesthetic, but to embracing it authentically and blending it perfectly with Fay’s own design values.—
Caroline Reilly,
Robb Report,
3 Jan. 2025
-
Over time, the tradition gained cultural significance, and many started copying it in the hopes of a prosperous year ahead.—
George Monastiriakos,
Newsweek,
31 Dec. 2024
Adjective
-
In 1950, scientists deployed a virus called Myxoma to destroy the rascally rabbits.—
Bethany Brookshire,
Smithsonian Magazine,
8 Dec. 2022
-
The Los Angeles Rams, starring as the rascally rabbit, defeated the slow-and-deliberate Cincinnati Bengals in a fascinating case study between completely opposite approaches to team-building.—
Eddie Brown,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
16 Feb. 2022
Adjective
-
Whenever O’Brien was onstage, balancing impish humor with a palpable love for movies and compassion for an industry where so many recently lost so much to the wildfires that ravaged Los Angeles, the ceremony felt light and loose.—
Judy Berman,
TIME,
3 Mar. 2025
-
These glassy encasements elevated each itty-bitty snapshot of kitschy urban ephemera (a taxi cab, a bodega coffee cup, a slice of pizza, a smiley-face plastic shopping bag) to a surprising elegance—undercut with impish humor.—
Marina Harss,
New Yorker,
4 Apr. 2025
Verb
-
The sketch sees Sarah Sherman imitating Wood’s Chelsea, cartoonishly wide-eyed, donned in large false teeth and speaking in a thick accent.—
Claire Franken,
TVLine,
13 Apr. 2025
-
The company uses data and AI learning to simulate attacks that go beyond just imitating an individual’s voice – like most modern sophisticated phishing attacks, the technology uses details about someone’s family, background, personality and more.—
Laya Neelakandan,
CNBC,
2 Apr. 2025
Noun
-
Would that all life could be filled with such tomfoolery.—
Graeme Wood,
The Atlantic,
9 May 2025
-
Another aspect to note is that the AI didn’t ridicule me or otherwise play any tomfoolery about my need for assistance.—
Lance Eliot,
Forbes.com,
3 May 2025
Adjective
-
And within the prankish world created by the production, not everyone was in on the joke.—
David Renard,
New York Times,
1 May 2025
-
In person, Wood is funny but sedate, speaking in a deadpan carried along by a prankish undercurrent.—
Ismail Muhammad,
New York Times,
20 Feb. 2025
Adjective
-
Wells could be playful, knavish, and his tone here is one of urgency and optimism about the distribution of information.—
BostonGlobe.com,
BostonGlobe.com,
30 July 2021
-
The same people who are now telling us that only Republican-voting obscurantists, ignorant deplorables and knavish right-wing media pundits are raising doubts about the vaccine would have been oozing skepticism.—
Gerard Baker,
WSJ,
12 July 2021
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Cite this Entry
“Monkeying.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/monkeying. Accessed 25 May. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share