1
as in mischief
playful, reckless behavior that is not intended to cause serious harm
students engaging in youthful shenanigans on the last day of school
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in hijinks
wildly playful or mischievous behavior
an act of vandalism that went way beyond the usual shenanigans at summer camp
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of shenanigans
In recent decades the Mexican celebration of Día de los Muertos has been widely embraced across the Bay Area, providing a comforting counterpoint to the thrills, chills and shenanigans of Halloween.
—
Andrew Gilbert, Mercury News, 22 Oct. 2025
Read on to learn how this treat inspired such shenanigans.
—Libby Monteith Minor, Southern Living, 19 Oct. 2025
The folks at the unfortunate mercy of such shenanigans, however, might just be Dart and Broncos quarterback Bo Nix.
—Luca Evans, Denver Post, 17 Oct. 2025
More pastel shenanigans are on the way.
—Christian Blauvelt, IndieWire, 16 Oct. 2025
Kevin sneaks his way into a room at the Plaza Hotel and gets up to his usual shenanigans in the building, which was owned in real life by Donald at the time, with Ivana serving as the property's president.
—Lauren Huff, Entertainment Weekly, 15 Oct. 2025
Still, the sleek production design, symphonic score and performances from a killer ensemble act as a life preserver, making the shenanigans at sea a little less choppy.
—Courtney Howard, Variety, 9 Oct. 2025
No Way Home on Starz, thanks to the licensing shenanigans between Sony and Marvel.
—Chris McMullen, Space.com, 8 Oct. 2025
Boatmance shenanigans will have to wait, though; right now, drama is concentrated exclusively on the deck team.
—Rafaela Bassili, Vulture, 7 Oct. 2025
Andrew Gilbert, Mercury News, 22 Oct. 2025
Read on to learn how this treat inspired such shenanigans.
—Libby Monteith Minor, Southern Living, 19 Oct. 2025
The folks at the unfortunate mercy of such shenanigans, however, might just be Dart and Broncos quarterback Bo Nix.
—Luca Evans, Denver Post, 17 Oct. 2025
More pastel shenanigans are on the way.
—Christian Blauvelt, IndieWire, 16 Oct. 2025
Kevin sneaks his way into a room at the Plaza Hotel and gets up to his usual shenanigans in the building, which was owned in real life by Donald at the time, with Ivana serving as the property's president.
—Lauren Huff, Entertainment Weekly, 15 Oct. 2025
Still, the sleek production design, symphonic score and performances from a killer ensemble act as a life preserver, making the shenanigans at sea a little less choppy.
—Courtney Howard, Variety, 9 Oct. 2025
No Way Home on Starz, thanks to the licensing shenanigans between Sony and Marvel.
—Chris McMullen, Space.com, 8 Oct. 2025
Boatmance shenanigans will have to wait, though; right now, drama is concentrated exclusively on the deck team.
—Rafaela Bassili, Vulture, 7 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for shenanigans
Noun
-
The electric version starts the same, but that plaintive wail sounds more like a call to mischief.—
Melissa Ruggieri,
USA Today,
24 Oct. 2025
-
When a mysterious prankster befalls the town of Middlesburg, 13-year-old Frances McCausland (Erin Chambers) gets blamed for the mischief.—
Catherine Santino,
PEOPLE,
23 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
That gap gives congregations wide latitude to hire and restore youth pastors, worship leaders and other associate ministers — including those with histories of misconduct.—
Mike Hixenbaugh,
NBC news,
30 Oct. 2025
-
Springfield officials, meanwhile, called for a review of the department's hiring practices after previous allegations of misconduct against Grayson were revealed.—
Christopher Cann,
USA Today,
29 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
Self was in a joking mood when asked about the squad’s stellar defensive play.—
Gary Bedore,
Kansas City Star,
29 Oct. 2025
-
Jones eventually got into his joking bag, and Bleek took that opportunity to seriously set the record straight one last time.—
Armon Sadler,
VIBE.com,
15 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
There was nothing particularly frightening about their Viennese waltz, which was a nice change from all the creepy tomfoolery earlier in the night.—
Lynette Rice,
Deadline,
28 Oct. 2025
-
This Survivor 49 challenge tomfoolery actually began before the season even started filming.—
Dalton Ross,
Entertainment Weekly,
8 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
Their relationship, tentative, intimate, and defiant, lingers long after the satirical skewering of male buffoonery has faded.—
Leila Latif,
IndieWire,
5 Sep. 2025
-
He’s been tinkering with this messaging on and off since damn near the start of the century, when his criticism of the genre shifted from the power-holding executives (both white and Black) of the music industry who were profiting off buffoonery, a la Bamboozled, to rap music itself.—
Alphonse Pierre,
Pitchfork,
15 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
Finally, after plenty of clowning, Taylor Swift has revealed that her 12th album is on the way, titled The Life of a Showgirl.—
Tom Smyth,
Vulture,
13 Aug. 2025
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This is a work in which the slapstick clowning and the tricky verbal non sequiturs should be merely the surface for roiling undercurrents of anguish, futility, despair and fear.—
David Rooney,
HollywoodReporter,
3 Sep. 2019
Cite this Entry
“Shenanigans.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shenanigans. Accessed 1 Nov. 2025.
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