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Synonyms

funny business

American  

noun

Informal.
  1. improper or unethical conduct, as deception or trickery.

    He won't stand for any funny business here.


funny business Idioms  
  1. Deceit, treachery, unethical conduct. For example, We suspect their outfit has been up to some funny business. [Colloquial; c. 1880]


Etymology

Origin of funny business

An Americanism dating back to 1880–85

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:

Hmm, any other funny business out there worth looking into …?

From Slate Sep. 20, 2025

He’s asked them all to visit the Dawn Project in Santa Barbara to evaluate his team’s methods, and to bring their engineers to see if there’s any funny business going on.

From Los Angeles Times Aug. 3, 2023

But let's not have any more funny business.

From Salon Jun. 14, 2023

But while he has added a lot of back stories, especially for Fleetwood, Sonja and Queen, his version also features quite a few new quips as well as some unfortunate broad funny business.

From New York Times Mar. 17, 2022

On Monday, Coach Reed caught me sneaking over to the Shirts Team and finally figured out the funny business.

From "Okay for Now" by Gary D. Schmidt

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