as in roughhousing
wildly playful or mischievous behavior
their parents simply wouldn't tolerate any roughhouse in the living room
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as in to wrestle
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of roughhouse
Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times, 1 Feb. 2024
Raised on her family’s farm in conservative Nebraska in the 1960s and ’70s, Ashley Swartz took her cues about life from her surroundings: At home, the men worked the farm; elsewhere, boys roughhoused and participated in sports; at church, there was good and there was evil.
—Sandy West, NBC News, 7 Oct. 2023
Patrick Ryan, USA TODAY, 2 Dec. 2021
Chewy orecchiette roughhouse with big hunks of sausage and broccolini, enrobed in a rich goat cheese fonduta.
—Dominic Armato, azcentral, 16 July 2019
See All Example Sentences for roughhouse
Noun
Her powers of observation miss nothing: roughhousing children, bickering adults, pets scampering underfoot.
—Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times, 1 Feb. 2024
Raised on her family’s farm in conservative Nebraska in the 1960s and ’70s, Ashley Swartz took her cues about life from her surroundings: At home, the men worked the farm; elsewhere, boys roughhoused and participated in sports; at church, there was good and there was evil.
—Sandy West, NBC News, 7 Oct. 2023
Verb
Phil bitterly watches from a distance while his fellow cowhands roughhouse, bathe together and chase prostitutes at a local saloon.
—Patrick Ryan, USA TODAY, 2 Dec. 2021
Chewy orecchiette roughhouse with big hunks of sausage and broccolini, enrobed in a rich goat cheese fonduta.
—Dominic Armato, azcentral, 16 July 2019
See All Example Sentences for roughhouse
Recent Examples of Synonyms for roughhouse
Verb
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The city, county and state all recently wrestled with deficits and the federal government has been both slashing its workforce and attempting to reduce the size of health care programs like Medicaid.—
Blake Nelson,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
7 July 2025
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In a recent interview, the WWE Hall of Famer opened up about his motivations for continuing to wrestle and his thoughts on retirement.—
Andrew Ravens,
MSNBC Newsweek,
4 July 2025
Verb
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Maria is a former basketball player for the University of New Orleans Maria cut up the court herself, as a Division I basketball player for the University of New Orleans from 1993 to 1996, per the Rutgers University website.—
Christopher Rudolph,
People.com,
25 June 2025
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Video and phone recordings showed Frey cutting up a rubber glove, filling it with something and stuffing the package into an arrow shaft during a call with Smith.—
Theresa Braine,
New York Daily News,
19 June 2025
Verb
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Cameras are expected to return to Broward County’s special-needs classrooms to help parents determine whether their child may have been abused or mistreated at school.—
Scott Travis,
Sun Sentinel,
26 June 2025
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The Russian leader would be the cleaning lady who was overlooked and mistreated by the scientists in the good old days but who, uh, showed those silly male scientists who the real boss was when the zombies showed up.—
Erik Kain,
Forbes.com,
22 June 2025
Verb
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These increasingly crazed visitors spend their days lazing on the shore, drinking and eating, carousing with prostitutes, and abusing Rosa (played by B-movie actress Leonora Fani, who would also star in the equally notorious vacation film Giallo in Venice) for their own entertainment.—
Erik Morse,
Vogue,
26 June 2025
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That night, Noonan caroused at the hotel bar with James Collopy, the district superintendent of the civil-aviation board.—
Laurie Gwen Shapiro,
New Yorker,
2 June 2025
Noun
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The action anime feature for everyone who couldn’t get enough of the horseplay in The Two Towers has finally cantered onto Max.—
Savannah Salazar,
Vulture,
1 Mar. 2025
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Mike Vrabel’s back And the horseplay is going to stop, apparently.—
Josh Kendall,
The Athletic,
11 Feb. 2025
Verb
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More top business stories: The only way for fans to escape the heat Monday was to hit the showers, and a long line of kids waited to jump into the left-field shower during the game, gleefully soaking themselves while the Sox got pummeled 10-0.—
Chicago Tribune,
Chicago Tribune,
25 June 2025
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Despite their second-half struggles against New York, the Dream have gotten used to pummeling opponents in the third quarter and held a plus-33.1 net rating in the period entering Tuesday’s action.—
Ben Pickman,
New York Times,
18 June 2025
Verb
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All of a sudden, now everybody's clowning around and no work is getting done.—
Brian Truitt,
USA Today,
26 June 2025
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Williams has previously clowned Perry for wearing dresses in his movies, so these real-life accusations could find their way into his next stand-up set.—
Armon Sadler,
VIBE.com,
18 June 2025
Verb
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Milan’s Chukwueze revelled on this stage, exciting fans further with a number skilful runs on the ball.—
Eduardo Tansley,
New York Times,
1 June 2025
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First up, while people are revelling following the verdict, the emotional intensity of reaction can be traced to a sense of loss.—
Callum Booth,
Forbes,
19 Feb. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Roughhouse.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/roughhouse. Accessed 12 Jul. 2025.
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