1
as in hijinks
wildly playful or mischievous behavior
hockey players who are known for their monkeyshines on and off the ice
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
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
Noun
-
However, there is a trick for using both of these operations together.—
Paul Smith-Goodson,
Forbes.com,
10 June 2025 -
Thalberg was a wunderkind, and one of the tricks of being a wunderkind is to leverage a youthful aura—selling the Kind to increase the Wunder.—
Adam Gopnik,
New Yorker,
9 June 2025
Noun
-
The other person who spoke in South Carolina, Tim Walz, is a special mixture of extreme buffoonery and a mean spirit, which is a toxic brew.—
Jenny Goldsberry,
The Washington Examiner,
1 June 2025
-
Certainly hope none of you will be complicit in this buffoonery.—
Andreas Wiseman,
Deadline,
23 May 2025
Noun
-
That his efforts take the form of a hectic period caper, packed to the gills with big-name stars and eye-catching set pieces, calls to mind The Grand Budapest Hotel, too.—
Scott Tobias,
Vulture,
7 June 2025
-
The carpaccio was an umami-bomb with egg yolk emulsion, pickled mustard seeds, briny capers and crispy shallots, gilded with tiny edible flowers.—
Brock Keeling,
Oc Register,
3 June 2025
Noun
-
Another aspect to note is that the AI didn’t ridicule me or otherwise play any tomfoolery about my need for assistance.—
Lance Eliot,
Forbes.com,
17 May 2025
-
Would that all life could be filled with such tomfoolery.—
Graeme Wood,
The Atlantic,
9 May 2025
Noun
-
The legend of Casanova, the 18th-century Venetian adventurer known for his romantic escapades, includes stories of him consuming dozens of oysters for breakfast to enhance his amorous energy.—
Tribune Content Agency,
Mercury News,
27 May 2025
-
These final years are sometimes treated as a lost period, because Twain’s writing grew bitter and cynical and unpalatable to those more interested in pleasing escapades.—
Graeme Wood,
The Atlantic,
9 May 2025
Noun
-
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
-
Mike Vrabel’s back And the horseplay is going to stop, apparently.—
Josh Kendall,
The Athletic,
11 Feb. 2025
Noun
-
Make that the second scariest, as Claire’s antics bring another menacing character into their lives, when her dealer, Jackie (Domhnall Gleeson), shows up at Echo Valley looking for 10 grand in heroin.—
Peter Debruge,
Variety,
7 June 2025
-
Because the film leans so heavily into its breakneck antics, the folks here mostly come off more as a collection of stereotypes than as realistic people tackling a credible crisis.—
Gary Goldstein,
Los Angeles Times,
6 June 2025
Noun
-
Silvia Garcia, who held this role globally at Coca-Cola, told me the most important part is aligning people’s experience with the values the company claims to stand for.—
Dr. Diane Hamilton,
Forbes.com,
14 June 2025
-
Steiner has plenty of experience with drivers under his watch in F1 getting involved in controversial incidents.—
Madeline Coleman,
New York Times,
14 June 2025
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.
Cite this Entry
“Monkeyshines.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/monkeyshines. Accessed 17 Jun. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share