prankster
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of prankster
Explanation
A prankster is someone who loves to play tricks or practical jokes. If your house gets rolled in the night, a prankster hung toilet paper all over the trees in your yard. Congratulations? To be a prankster, you need a mischievous sense of humor and enough imagination to dream up practical jokes. You could glue a ten-dollar bill to the floor, change your sister's computer settings to Portuguese, or leave your fake bug collection on your teacher's chair. These tricks or hoaxes are also called pranks, the origin of prankster, which probably stems from the obsolete verb prank, "decorate or dress up."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The possibility that it was a prankster on the radio may not be 0%.
From MarketWatch • Feb. 11, 2026
With that in mind, the shadow cockroach “Angels” projects into your kitchen may be just a bit of Peter Pan-esque play from an inveterate digital prankster.
From Salon • Nov. 7, 2025
He is his own niche, a prankster who holds up a funhouse mirror to humanity and makes you wonder if the resultant image is more revealing than a normal one.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 23, 2025
Eugene Brown of Menifee is known as a prankster.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 18, 2025
“Almost two years now. And if you’re wondering, yes, we do get the occasional prankster who pulls up to the window and tells me they want a chalupa.”
From "The Hate U Give" by Angie Thomas
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
