as in skullduggery
the use of clever underhanded actions to achieve an end
had to resort to a certain amount of hanky-panky to sneak away from the house without his dog seeing him
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Recent Examples of hanky-panky
But there was no hanky-panky, and in fact the two couples had dinner together every week for two years after Dirty Dancing wrapped.
—
Bethy Squires, Vulture, 19 Sep. 2024
On my ride with Boaz and Javadi, a Waymo operator suddenly joined us on the audio system, not to inform us that hanky-panky is prohibited, but to say that two passengers did not have their seat belts fastened.
—Steve Lopez, Los Angeles Times, 26 July 2024
Any outlier hanky-panky effort by Republicans would be enjoined by the courts based upon solid precedent.
—Jerry Goldfeder, New York Daily News, 24 July 2024
No hanky-panky, no name calling, no twisting of truths, no bull.
—Patrick Wallis, Baltimore Sun, 24 May 2024
Our inescapable conclusion is that the target of this pitch is being snowed by an acquaintance hoping to climb out of the friend zone for a bout of hanky-panky before moving on.
—Tom Zoellner, SPIN, 21 Feb. 2024
Bethy Squires, Vulture, 19 Sep. 2024
On my ride with Boaz and Javadi, a Waymo operator suddenly joined us on the audio system, not to inform us that hanky-panky is prohibited, but to say that two passengers did not have their seat belts fastened.
—Steve Lopez, Los Angeles Times, 26 July 2024
Any outlier hanky-panky effort by Republicans would be enjoined by the courts based upon solid precedent.
—Jerry Goldfeder, New York Daily News, 24 July 2024
No hanky-panky, no name calling, no twisting of truths, no bull.
—Patrick Wallis, Baltimore Sun, 24 May 2024
Our inescapable conclusion is that the target of this pitch is being snowed by an acquaintance hoping to climb out of the friend zone for a bout of hanky-panky before moving on.
—Tom Zoellner, SPIN, 21 Feb. 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hanky-panky
Noun
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But because pressured waterfowl aren’t easy to fool, hunters have been trying to perfect the art of decoy deception to swing the odds in their favor.Alice Jones Webb, Outdoor Life, 14 Nov. 2024
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On Thursday, Prime Video debuted the first trailer for its series adaptation of the 1999 teen movie, all eight episodes premiering Nov. 21 on the streamer, bringing a familiar tale of deception to a new locale with all new characters.Glenn Garner, Deadline, 24 Oct. 2024
Noun
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The Democratic National Committee pumped millions of dollars into casting them as spoilers at best and deceptive vessels of Republican subterfuge efforts at worst.Tal Axelrod, ABC News, 1 Nov. 2024
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Had Coppola focused on the dilemma of a white idealist challenged and intimidated by a black political power player, setting off political subterfuge that nearly destroys the dynasty Cesar was born to, Megalopolis might have ignited pop recognition and excitement.Armond White, National Review, 4 Oct. 2024
Noun
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There are many reasons beyond cheating and skulduggery that someone might root or modify their Android device.Kevin Purdy, Ars Technica, 30 July 2024
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And so the tale of how the Giants established themselves at the Polo Grounds is told, accurately enough, as a piece of complicated capitalist skulduggery in which the team’s desperate owner bought a controlling interest in the Baltimore Orioles and then dragged its stars north.Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 25 Mar. 2024
Noun
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Specifically, expect to see a new look at the latest DLC for Alan Wake 2, The Lake House, and an in-depth look at the latest chicanery coming out of Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii.Ash Parrish, The Verge, 17 Oct. 2024
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OpenAI did not inflict its current legal headache on itself out of cunning chicanery, but out of a desire to satisfy a number of different early stakeholders, many of them true believers.Kelsey Piper, Vox, 7 Dec. 2018
Noun
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Hosted by Alan Cumming, the game of treachery and deceit returns to Peacock on Thursday, January 9th.Anne Easton, Forbes, 31 Oct. 2024
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Politics is full of deceit, treachery, and betrayal. . . .Quintus Tullius Cicero, Foreign Affairs, 20 Apr. 2012
Noun
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The documentary never suitably addresses any of this, nor Goode’s trickery.Jen Chaney, Vulture, 8 Sep. 2024
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While sudden incidents wrest the plot in new directions, the film is driven less by perverse narrative trickery than by the arbitrary cruelty of fate or the volatility of human nature.Guy Lodge, Variety, 26 Sep. 2024
Noun
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After the game, Roberts indicated there was no gamesmanship intended in that answer.Bill Shaikin, Los Angeles Times, 18 Oct. 2024
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The juxtaposition of the two worlds, one of which had been grazing horses in this area of the steppe for millennia, the other of which had, in a moment of daring and gamesmanship, started launching people into the cosmos with rockets meant to annihilate humanity, filled McConnell with wonder.Keith Gessen, The New Yorker, 4 Sep. 2024
Noun
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That means counties have their own rules about whether to allow voters to correct ballots that aren't signed, dated or placed inside secrecy envelopes.Mike D'Onofrio, Axios, 4 Nov. 2024
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But the voters prevailed before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, which ruled in a 4-3 decision that boards of elections must count provisional ballots cast by voters whose mail ballots are rejected for lacking secrecy envelopes.Melissa Quinn, CBS News, 1 Nov. 2024
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Cite this Entry
“Hanky-panky.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hanky-panky. Accessed 21 Nov. 2024.
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