shenanigan

1 usually shenanigans pl  playful, reckless behavior that is not intended to cause serious harm students engaging in youthful shenanigans on the last day of school Synonyms devilishness, devilment, devilry (or deviltry), diablerie, espièglerie, hob, impishness, knavery, mischievousness, rascality, roguery, roguishness, mischief(s), waggery, waggishness, wickednessRelated Words diabolicalness, misbehavior, misconduct, naughtiness, troublemaking; buffoonery, friskiness, playfulness, sportiveness; chicanery, trickery; goings-on, hanky-panky, high jinks (also hijinks), monkey business, monkeying, monkeyshine(s), skylarking, tomfoolery; horseplay, roughhousing; antic, caper, dido, practical joke, trick; aggravation, annoyance, exasperation, irritationNear Antonyms gravitas, gravity, seriousness, solemnity, solemnness

2 usually shenanigans pl  wildly playful or mischievous behavior an act of vandalism that went way beyond the usual shenanigans at summer camp Synonyms buffoonery, clownery, clowning, foolery, high jinks (also hijinks), horsing around, monkey business, monkeying, monkeyshine(s), roughhouse, roughhousing, horseplay(s), skylarking, slapstick, tomfooleryRelated Words childishness, clownishness, foolishness, funning, jesting, joking, nonsense, silliness, waggery; boisterousness, rambunctiousness, rowdiness, rowdyism, rumbustiousness [chiefly British]; devilry (or deviltry), impishness, knavery, mischief, mischievousness, prankishness, rascality, roguery, roguishness, trickery; cavorting, frivolity, frolicking, gamboling (or gambolling), merrymaking, playfulness, revelry, roistering, romping, sporting, sportiveness

3 a clever often underhanded means to achieve an end the street-corner huckster of pirated DVDs had all sorts of shenanigans to keep the cops off of his tail Synonyms artifice, device, dodge, fetch, flimflam, gambit, gimmick, jig, juggle, knack, play, ploy, scheme, trick, sleight, stratagem, wileRelated Words bluff, end run, feint; cheating, chicanery, cozenage, craft, crookery, cunning, deception, dupery, duplicity, fakery, jugglery, legerdemain, skulduggery (or skullduggery), subterfuge, swindling, trickery; fraud, gaff, hoax, sham, swindle; blind, front, smoke screen