practical joke

American  

noun

1. a playful trick, often involving some physical agent or means, in which the victim is placed in an embarrassing or disadvantageous position.

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practical joke British  

noun

1. a prank or trick usually intended to make the victim appear foolish

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Other Word Forms

• practical joker noun

Etymology

Origin of practical joke

First recorded in 1840–50

Example Sentences

Even at the Evening Sun into the early ’90s, we played practical jokes on one another.

From Salon

"I thought, 'Is this a practical joke? Is someone doing something perverted? This is really, really strange,'" she said in her testimony.

From BBC

The hit, she said, made her briefly think that the collision could have been anything from an intentional assault to “something perverted” to a practical joke.

From New York Times

"Is this a practical joke. Is someone doing something perverted?" she told the court she recalled thinking in that moment.

From BBC

A: It’s so impossible to not feel like being transported into some weird practical joke . . . but one that’s not funny.

From Washington Post

Related Words

• prank