monkeyshines

noun

plural of monkeyshine
1
as in buffoonery
wildly playful or mischievous behavior hockey players who are known for their monkeyshines on and off the ice

Synonyms & Similar Words

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2
as in trick
a playful or mischievous act intended as a joke on the alert for paleontological monkeyshines ever since the unmasking of Piltdown man

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for monkeyshines
  1. buffoonery
  2. trick
  3. tomfoolery
  4. caper
  5. horseplay
  6. escapade
  7. clowning
  8. antic
Noun
  • Still, there's a remarkable level of buffoonery in his analysis.
    — Bobby Burack OutKick, FOXNews.com, 4 Aug. 2026
  • The show, with its interest in corporate buffoonery, doesn’t quite manage to hand-wave away the queasy implications.
    — Inkoo Kang, New Yorker, 27 Mar. 2026
Definition of buffoonery
Noun
  • How modular workstation sinks work A workstation sink looks like a standard basin at first glance, but the walls hide the trick.
    — Lauren Jarvis-Gibson, Charlotte Observer, 1 Oct. 2026
  • With each trick and tactic, companies are reinventing the ripoff right under our noses.
    — Lindsay Owens, Washington Post, 1 Oct. 2026
Definition of trick
Noun
  • After the film’s theatrical release on June 26, the decades-long saga of pranks and tomfoolery is finally coming to an end.
    — Isabelle Farina, Variety, 9 Sep. 2026
  • New assistant coach Alice Chilton is a blatant remodeling of Roy Kent — a brusque ex-soccer player who’s reluctant to engage with Ted’s tomfoolery or personal prodding — but Tanya Reynolds’ performance is equal turns wounded and witty.
    — Ben Travers, IndieWire, 5 Aug. 2026
Definition of tomfoolery
Noun
  • Third place was Japanese director Sabu’s Arrested Memory, a crime caper about a detective with dementia who unwittingly wanders off with a multimillion-dollar ransom, sending cops and criminals on his trail.
    — Glenn Garner, Deadline, 21 Sep. 2026
  • To serve it as part of a larger menu, consider following it up with salmon—try Martha’s pan-seared salmon fillets with caper-lemon compound butter.
    — Martha Stewart, Martha Stewart, 20 Sep. 2026
Definition of caper
Noun
  • The video depicts a group of students engaged in horseplay, progressing to two 15-year-olds tussling and laughing, according to the suit.
    — Eric Peterson, Chicago Tribune, 23 Sep. 2026
  • The undefeated South Dakota Coyotes prowled into Albertsons Stadium this weekend and turned what could have been an evening of horseplay for the Broncos into a dogfight.
    — Shaun Goodwin, Idaho Statesman, 20 Sep. 2026
Definition of horseplay
Noun
  • Check out even more Amazon travel finds to shop ahead of your fall escapades.
    — Annie Blackman, InStyle, 17 Sep. 2026
  • Now roughly two weeks later, Netflix has made a whole documentary about the escapade.
    — Kory Grow, Rolling Stone, 1 Sep. 2026
Definition of escapade
Noun
  • On paper, the script didn’t seem that funny, and the looseness of it all — the clowning, the lack of a traditional plot structure — seemed kind of slapdash.
    — Victor Garber, Vulture, 17 Sep. 2026
  • The clowning might be a little too effortful.
    — Theater Critic, Los Angeles Times, 13 May 2026
Definition of clowning
Noun
  • Tom Cruise has built a career on jumping out of airplanes, scaling skyscrapers and performing other high-wire antics in the name of entertainment.
    — Rebecca Rubin, Variety, 30 Sep. 2026
  • Tired of Luann’s antics already, Porsha chats with the other women during it, and Luann doesn’t just yell at her from the stage but walks into the crowd to scold her face-to-face into the microphone.
    — Tom Smyth, Vulture, 28 Sep. 2026
Definition of antic
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

monkeyshine
monkeyshines
monkeys (with)
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Cite this Entry

“Monkeyshines.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/monkeyshines. Accessed 5 Oct. 2026.

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