monkey
Americannoun
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monkeys
plural
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any of more than 250 species of simian primates belonging to the two distinct lines of New World monkeys and Old World monkeys.
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the fur of certain species of such long-haired animals.
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a person whose behavior is likened to such an animal, as a mischievous, agile child or a mimic.
My nephew is the most adorable little monkey—he'll try to climb anything he can reach.
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Disparaging and Offensive. (used as a slur against a member of a racial or ethnic minority group, especially a Black person.)
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a dance, deriving from the twist, in which the partners move their hands as if climbing a pole and jerk their heads back and forth.
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Slang. an addiction to narcotics.
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any of various mechanical devices, as the ram of a pile driver.
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Coal Mining. a small passageway or opening.
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British Slang. the sum of 500 pounds.
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Australian Informal. a sheep.
verb (used without object)
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monkeys,
present (3rd person singular)
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monkeyed,
past participle, past
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monkeying
present participle
verb (used with object)
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monkeys,
present (3rd person singular)
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monkeyed,
past participle, past
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monkeying
present participle
idioms
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a monkey on one's back,
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an addiction to a drug or drugs; narcotic dependency.
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an enduring and often vexing habit or urge.
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a burdensome problem, situation, or responsibility; personal affliction or hindrance.
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make a monkey out of, to cause to appear ridiculous; make a fool of. Also make a monkey of.
noun
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any of numerous long-tailed primates excluding the prosimians (lemurs, tarsiers, etc): comprise the families Cercopithecidae (Old World monkeys), Cebidae (New World monkeys), and Callithricidae (marmosets) See Old World monkey New World monkey
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any primate except man
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a naughty or mischievous person, esp a child
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the head of a pile-driver ( monkey engine ) or of some similar mechanical device
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(modifier) nautical denoting a small light structure or piece of equipment contrived to suit an immediate purpose
a monkey foresail
a monkey bridge
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slang an addict's dependence on a drug
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slang a butt of derision; someone made to look a fool (esp in the phrase make a monkey of )
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slang (esp in bookmaking) £500
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slang $500
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slang a sheep
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slang to care about or regard as important
who gives a monkey's what he thinks?
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slang
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to be troubled by a persistent problem
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to be addicted to a drug
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verb
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(intr; usually foll by around, with, etc) to meddle, fool, or tinker
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rare (tr) to imitate; ape
Sensitive Note
See simianization.
Usage
Plural word for monkey The plural form of monkey is monkeys (not monkies). Words that end with a -y preceded by a vowel (a, e, i, o, u) are made plural by adding an -s at the end, as in chimney/chimneys and ray/rays. This can be confusing, because the plural form of words that end with a -y and are preceded by a consonant is made by changing the ending to -ies, as in party/parties, candy/candies, and duty/duties.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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monkeysimple
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monkeyssimple
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have monkeyedperfect
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has monkeyedperfect
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am monkeyingprogressive
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are monkeyingprogressive
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is monkeyingprogressive
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have been monkeyingperfect progressive
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has been monkeyingperfect progressive
Past
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monkeyedsimple
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had monkeyedperfect
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was monkeyingprogressive
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were monkeyingprogressive
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had been monkeyingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of monkey
First recorded in 1520–30; origin uncertain; possibly from Low German; compare Middle Low German Moneke (name of son of Martin the Ape in the story of Reynard the Fox ), equivalent to mone- (akin to obsolete French monne “she-ape,” Spanish, Portuguese mono “ape”) + -ke diminutive suffix
Explanation
A monkey is a tropical, long-tailed animal known as a "primate." If you visit India or Sri Lanka, you're almost guaranteed to see monkeys, but don't monkey around with them. Many monkeys live in trees, although some are ground-dwelling, and increasingly many live in urban areas, scavenging food and interacting with people. Monkeys are famously playful and mischievous, and because of this, monkey is a common diminutive (or fond nickname) for impish kids, and "monkey business" is foolishness or deceitful behavior. When you monkey around, or monkey with something, you fool about or fiddle with it.
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.
See Examples For:
The squirrel monkey, which relies strongly on vision, has a brain dominated by the neocortex.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 31, 2026
When they handed the property over, it boasted emerald green walls, a rattan monkey chandelier, and banana-leaf wallpaper.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 18, 2026
The Japanese macaque - also known as a snow monkey - is about the size of a medium-sized dog once it reaches adulthood.
From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026
A lab-raised monkey, born without a fear of snakes, can be taught to fear them—but not to fear flowers, a difference that suggests an inherited readiness to learn a survival strategy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
The big monkey must have been telling the little monkeys that everything looked all right to him because here they came.
From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls
Researchers from The Ohio State University studied wild sooty mangabey monkeys, whose feet do not have the same highly flexible ankles found in chimpanzees.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 31, 2026
Wild Futures said the sanctuary began when it started rescuing woolly monkeys from the pet trade.
From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026
Before this discovery, Early Miocene fossil sites in North Africa had produced remains of monkeys but no confirmed apes.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 24, 2026
“Self-Portrait With Monkeys” features the raven-haired artist unfazed by the presence of four spider monkeys — two touching her while the others peer from tropical foliage.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026
The monkeys were so cute and I was so happy that I had finally caught one, I couldn’t keep my hands off of them.
From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls
The timeline got complicated, screenwriters monkeyed with the story mechanics, directors brought new special effects into the battle to keep the action fresh.
From The Verge ● Nov. 1, 2019
He and Hetfield purposefully monkeyed with the mix, he said.
From The New Yorker ● Nov. 15, 2018
What we’ll all soon learn, if we haven’t already, is that the presidency isn’t something to be monkeyed with.
From Salon ● Mar. 7, 2017
Quick to step in and show his ambition, John volunteered to handle it himself and quickly monkeyed up the mast to fix it.
From Scientific American ● Oct. 2, 2015
Grunt monkeyed his way up in half the time, delivering Addison to the top under one arm.
From "Hollow City" by Ransom Riggs
So $14 million in the past eight months, with all the monkeying around that we’ve done, suggests that next year it could be $40 million.
From Slate ● Nov. 3, 2025
But Draper's "monkeying about" after the game resulted in him having to walk back to the hotel as Sherring "needed some space".
From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2024
He said monkeying with WebTA is rampant at the bureau.
From Washington Times ● Dec. 16, 2022
So despite all this multiverse monkeying, they managed to raise the dramatic stakes for Peter going forward, and I’m here for it.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 17, 2021
“I don’t want you two monkeying around downtown. I’m cuttin’ up a watermelon, and we can have Ritz and cheddar for lunch.”
From "The Miseducation of Cameron Post" by emily m. danforth
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.
