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
  • Coker — a wide receiver — was asked to run a trick play and play QB for a moment.
    — Alex Zietlow, Charlotte Observer, 1 Aug. 2026
  • Joao Pedro scored a nine-minute hat-trick during Chelsea’s 6-4 pre-season victory over Western Sydney Warriors on July 28.
    — Guillermo Rai, New York Times, 1 Aug. 2026
Definition of trick
Noun
  • Between their champagne problems and flirty tomfoolery, Anna disappears, initiating a futile rescue search.
    — Maggie Turner, Air Mail, 25 July 2026
  • This is the first sign of the kind of tomfoolery Luke has in store for the night.
    — Rafaela Bassili, Vulture, 14 July 2026
Definition of tomfoolery
Noun
  • Try the fish a la Francaise, where the daily catch is basted in a lemon butter caper sauce and served over pasta.
    — Kelsey Glennon, Southern Living, 6 Aug. 2026
  • Elegant slices of beef get tarted up with capers, arugula, garlic confit and aioli for a refreshing carpaccio.
    — Connie Ogle July 31, Miami Herald, 31 July 2026
Definition of caper
Noun
  • When horseplay turns into an impromptu hookup, neither of the young men fight the urge.
    — David Fear, Rolling Stone, 17 June 2026
  • After France’s 4-3 victory against Argentina at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, horseplay between the players at the team hotel culminated in back-up centre-back Adil Rami setting off a fire extinguisher in the early hours of the morning.
    — Tom Williams, New York Times, 17 May 2026
Definition of horseplay
Noun
  • Meanwhile, Melissa Sondhi as her maid Lisette and Alex Taite as the poet Prunier have a little romantic escapade of their own going on.
    — Randy McMullen, Mercury News, 16 July 2026
  • In the Wizard of Oz-like escapade, Kansas hairdresser Gail (Zoey Deutch) walks in on her fiancé (Michael Cassidy) having sex with Jennifer Aniston (as herself), who’s in town for a cookbook reading.
    — Eric Andersson, PEOPLE, 15 July 2026
Definition of escapade
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
Definition of clowning
Noun
  • While his antics look like something straight out of a Savannah Bananas game, the dude can throw a baseball.
    — Mark Harris OutKick, FOXNews.com, 4 Aug. 2026
  • However, he has been known to steal the show on a number of occasions with his cheeky antics, from dancing to the band’s music to dramatically covering his ears during a noisy flypast.
    — Stephanie Petit, PEOPLE, 3 Aug. 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 9 Aug. 2026.

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