monkeying (around)

verb

present participle of monkey (around)
1
as in clowning (around)
to engage in attention-getting playful or boisterous behavior stop monkeying around in the house or you'll break something

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance
2
as in fiddling (around)
to spend time in aimless activity would rather just monkey around instead of doing work

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for monkeying (around)
  1. cutting up
  2. playing
  3. horsing around
  4. fooling around
  5. showing off
  6. messing around
  7. acting up
  8. hanging about
Verb
  • Using unseen footage from Presley’s 1969 to 1976 Las Vegas residency, the movie plays the hits – plus The Beatles and Simon & Garfunkel – but also showcases his sense of humor, quipping with crowds and cutting up with bandmates.
    — Brian Truitt, USA Today, 12 June 2026
  • Always cutting up and making memories.
    — Hedy Phillips, PEOPLE, 8 June 2026
Definition of cutting up
Verb
  • Even with their side trip to Utah, Memphis had four of the top seven players in minutes in Vegas, helped by playing a sixth game in the championship.
    — John Hollinger, New York Times, 22 July 2026
  • Only the two teams that make the championship game playing a sixth game, but the Heat is likely out of the mix for the championship game with two losses in Las Vegas.
    — Anthony Chiang, Miami Herald, 14 July 2026
Definition of playing
Verb
  • 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
  • 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
Definition of horsing around
Verb
  • Zeus did not approve of his daughter fooling around with this mortal roughneck hunter and put out a hit on Orion.
    — Mike Lynch, Twin Cities, 8 Mar. 2026
  • 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
Definition of fooling around
Verb
  • Like a proud zookeeper showing off the rarest specimen in his collection, Corsini rarely tries the same trick twice.
    — Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 24 July 2026
  • The original room also has mannequins showing off fashion-forward outfits from the winners of the Liberty Fabrics x Graduate Fashion Foundation Competition, with lots of lovely clashing patterns and textures.
    — Samantha Conti, Footwear News, 23 July 2026
Definition of showing off
Verb
  • That sounds way better than messing around with a complex spider web of pole segments, elastic cords, sleeves and clips.
    — New Atlas, New Atlas, 9 July 2026
  • Kylian liked messing around, having a laugh and telling jokes — just like the rest of us.
    — Tom Williams, New York Times, 16 June 2026
Definition of messing around
Verb
  • Baye continued acting up until 2023.
    — Kimberlee Speakman, PEOPLE, 18 Apr. 2026
  • The capsule’s toilet is already acting up.
    — Marcia Dunn, Chicago Tribune, 2 Apr. 2026
Definition of acting up
Verb
  • President James Garfield’s assassin, Charles Guiteau, died by hanging about five months after he was convicted of murder.
    — USA Today, USA Today, 17 June 2026
  • In 2019, city employees began hanging about 500 trick-or-treat pumpkin buckets in the trees on Main Street every October.
    — Elliott Harrell, Travel + Leisure, 18 Oct. 2025
Definition of hanging about
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.

Browse Nearby Words

monkeying
monkeying (around)
monkeying (with)
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Monkeying (around).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/monkeying%20%28around%29. Accessed 26 Jul. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of aerie

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Democracy or Republic: What's the difference?

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Do you 'say your piece' or 'say your peace'?

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat

The Longest Long Words List

Ten Words Ending with a Silent ‘T’

The Words of the Week - Jul 24

Why do we say 'fly off the handle'?
See More

Popular

See More

Democracy or Republic: What's the difference?

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat

The Longest Long Words List
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
chain-question-mark
Missing Link Quiz July 2026 Five seconds to figure out the word that fits bot...
See All