monkeyish

adjective

Definition of monkeyishnext
as in prankish

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Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for monkeyish
  1. prankish
  2. uncontrollable
  3. roguish
  4. elfish
  5. knavish
  6. wrongheaded
  7. impish
  8. waggish
Adjective
  • The catastrophies that our heroine averts are awfully small potatoes — a bulldozer running amok, an amusement park ride speeding out of control, some prankish teenagers scheming to turn the girl’s shower into a steambath.
    — Arthur Knight, HollywoodReporter, 25 June 2026
  • Angela Balogh Calin’s costumes prepare the way for Ionesco’s prankish jokes.
    — Theater Critic, Los Angeles Times, 13 May 2026
Definition of prankish
Adjective
  • DeStefano kicked into a quasi-rock groove on acoustic guitar, and the guys launched into a chorus about shaking off uncontrollable hassles and restoring positivity.
    — Tom Roland, Billboard, 2 Oct. 2026
  • Improving resource allocation via unification reduces the impact of uncontrollable disruptions, so airlines don’t pay the cost of fragmentation.
    — Abha Dogra, Forbes.com, 29 Sep. 2026
Definition of uncontrollable
Adjective
  • No movie has ever been made worse by Mads Mikkelsen, who plays our Big Bad, while Waller-Bridge has great comedic rapport with Ford as his charmingly roguish sidekick.
    — Frank DeRuggiero, Entertainment Weekly, 3 Sep. 2026
  • The movie follows the life of feisty belle Scarlett O'Hara (Vivien Leigh), from growing up on a plantation to her love affairs, including with roguish Rhett Butler (Clark Gable).
    — Brian Truitt, USA Today, 1 July 2026
Definition of roguish
Adjective
  • Santa’s elves are generous souls, not elfish.
    — Richard Lederer, San Diego Union-Tribune, 20 Dec. 2025
  • But showing a recent visitor his awards, Shannon, who at 75 has a shock of snowy hair and an elfish grin, seemed almost embarrassed.
    — John Horgan, IEEE Spectrum, 27 Apr. 2016
Definition of elfish
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
Definition of knavish
Adjective
  • Let’s revise our takes on some of these films from wrongheaded to the correct opinion.
    — Jim Hemphill, IndieWire, 30 Sep. 2026
  • Then editor-in-chief Jim Shooter ordered Jean be killed, a decision that rubbed the artist as wrongheaded and would lead to his exit a few months later.
    — Borys Kit, HollywoodReporter, 18 June 2026
Definition of wrongheaded
Adjective
  • The models in the film, meanwhile, run the spectrum from docile to diva — including Evangelista, who’s entreating the camera with an impish smile even while having a little fit backstage.
    — Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 25 Sep. 2026
  • And yet the movie’s central storyline hints at writer-director Bassam Tariq’s inclination to subvert his own brooding-antihero saga, allowing room for unpredictability and the slightest whiff of impish irreverence.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 25 Sep. 2026
Definition of impish
Adjective
  • The waggish jeer that subverts the Reich Chancellery, designed by Adolf Hitler's chief architect, Albert Speer, must have sent the woman who chastises children for flatulent folly into a tizzy.
    — Natasha Gural, Forbes, 12 Jan. 2025
  • After publishing a New York Times piece about grieving her late husband, the waggish writer received an email from a kindly old acquaintance who was also recently widowed.
    — Patrick Ryan, USA TODAY, 24 Oct. 2024
Definition of waggish
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 (with)
monkeyish
monkeys
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Cite this Entry

“Monkeyish.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/monkeyish. Accessed 6 Oct. 2026.

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