prank
1 Americannoun
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pranks
plural
verb (used with object)
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pranks,
present (3rd person singular)
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pranked,
past participle, past
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pranking
present participle
verb (used without object)
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pranks,
present (3rd person singular)
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pranked,
past participle, past
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pranking
present participle
verb
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(tr) to dress or decorate showily or gaudily
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(intr) to make an ostentatious display
noun
Usage
What is a prank call? A prank call or crank call is when a person calls someone up to make a joke or play a trick on them. Teenagers may make prank calls to random people while comedians may use them to dupe political figures. Though meant to be humorous and playful, they can have serious consequences.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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pranksimple
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prankssimple
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have prankedperfect
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has prankedperfect
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am prankingprogressive
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are prankingprogressive
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is prankingprogressive
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have been prankingperfect progressive
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has been prankingperfect progressive
Past
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prankedsimple
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had prankedperfect
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was prankingprogressive
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were prankingprogressive
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had been prankingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of prank1
First recorded in 1520–30; origin uncertain
Origin of prank2
1540–50; akin to Dutch pronken to show off, strut, pronk show, finery, Middle Low German prank pomp
Explanation
Pretending to be someone else on the phone or putting a whoopee cushion on someone's chair are two very old types of a prank, or practical joke, played at someone else's expense. There are many kinds of pranks in the world. If you called a friend and said you were the police, that would be a prank phone call. Some pranks can be mean and even dangerous, while others are silly. Some people prank their friends, while others prank people they dislike. Some people never outgrow the need to pull a good prank. A less common meaning of prank is to dress up in a showy or silly way.
Vocabulary lists containing prank
Tricky Terms for April Fool's Day
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Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus
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Comedy Lingo
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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:
A sleazebag producer created a prank show called “Juiced” that starred O.J.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2026
“What may seem like a harmless prank for social media is actually a crime,” the agency said in the post.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026
The prank came after midfielder Jordan Henderson suffered a freak injury as he fell while jumping over the advertising hoardings following the match.
From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2026
When I began leaving messages for them, one survivor wondered if the phone call was a prank.
From Slate ● Jul. 7, 2026
No one could say now that Hazel had thrown away his life in a foolhardy prank.
From "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams
Playing jokes and pranks, it needs to be amusing and not belittling, obviously.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
In fact, if we were on the eve of April Fools’ Day, not the Fourth of July, I’d guess that the few news stories about the order were pranks.
From Slate ● Jul. 1, 2026
Anticipation for their second match against Morocco on Friday is building and the conical pranks are perhaps an indication of high spirits.
From BBC ● Jun. 17, 2026
But Riley has put in so much work of his own wowing us with pointed pranks that he’s earned the right to deliver an earnest plea.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 21, 2026
“Stop, Jo, you must clear yourself first. You have played so many pranks that I am afraid you have had a hand in this.”
From "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott
The voice of the colleague who pranked her came back into her headphones.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026
But when Adidas unveiled the kits for the tournament, swashbuckling centre back Alexi Lalas and his team-mates thought they had been pranked.
From BBC ● Jun. 1, 2026
Kido says they’ve never been on the receiving end of weird or gross trash—or even pranked.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 1, 2026
How were so many otherwise reasonable people pranked into venturing to an empty Brooklyn Bridge Park in the bleak midwinter as 2025 ebbed to nothing, for nothing?
From Salon ● Jan. 21, 2026
He’s also the guy who pranked my father’s office.
From "Linked" by Gordon Korman
He and his best pal Chris Stark, who joined Radio 1 in 2012, were known for their real life, on-air bromance and for pranking each other.
From BBC ● Mar. 30, 2026
This further fouls up Didi’s holiday, though Cliff’s pranking of Conway may mark the moment when she falls in love.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 27, 2025
“My friend sent me a video, and at first I thought she was pranking me,” the 20-year-old from Nashville told Slate—and not just because the concept of an “A.I. actress” is already baffling enough.
From Slate ● Oct. 2, 2025
According to investigators, Woodward acknowledged meeting Bernstein on the night he vanished but asserted that Bernstein walked alone into the park and left him waiting, unsure “if Blaze was pranking him.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 9, 2024
The others were fairly certain he was pranking them until they stepped out onto the rooftop terrace and were greeted by a stunning view.
From "City Spies" by James Ponti
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.
