as in joking
wildly playful or mischievous behavior
the new nanny will not tolerate such monkey business from her charges
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of monkey business
Orangutans: Bella and Segundo Relationship status: A blind date that didn't go so well
Sometimes matchmaking can feel a bit like monkey business.
—
Maggie Menderski, The Courier-Journal, 7 Feb. 2024
About 35 miles northwest of Chicago, there's some serious monkey business happening.
—Kate Hogan, Peoplemag, 2 Sep. 2023
That's not monkey business.
—Clare Duffy, CNN, 16 Mar. 2021
And that’s no monkey business.
—Rebecca Kreston, Discover Magazine, 17 Feb. 2014
See All Example Sentences for monkey business
Maggie Menderski, The Courier-Journal, 7 Feb. 2024
About 35 miles northwest of Chicago, there's some serious monkey business happening.
—Kate Hogan, Peoplemag, 2 Sep. 2023
That's not monkey business.
—Clare Duffy, CNN, 16 Mar. 2021
And that’s no monkey business.
—Rebecca Kreston, Discover Magazine, 17 Feb. 2014
See All Example Sentences for monkey business
Recent Examples of Synonyms for monkey business
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
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Key speeches are faithfully delivered to an audience of two, not thousands; a scene of soldiers destructively revelling on a bridge is given a different spirit by ironic, out-of-time horseplay.—
Guy Lodge,
Variety,
8 Feb. 2025
Noun
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His is a sort of erudite buffoonery that consistently tap-dances between clever, self-aware, and patently stupid.—
David Sims,
The Atlantic,
22 Mar. 2025
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There is, in fact, real stagecraft along with the buffoonery.—
Susan B. Glasser,
The New Yorker,
20 Mar. 2025
Noun
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Tirhakah Love is a senior writer at New York Magazine and the host of the new evening newsletter Dinner Party, a daily email that touches on all things entertainment — that means film, television, music, tech, and gaming — plus politics and corporate clownery.—
Vulture,
Vulture,
29 Apr. 2022
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The Winx Club live action is a big clownery!—
Olivia Truffaut-Wong,
refinery29.com,
25 Jan. 2021
Cite this Entry
“Monkey business.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/monkey%20business. Accessed 2 Apr. 2025.
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