prankster
Americannoun
-
pranksters
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
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.
See Examples For:
Rosales restores Ever’s multi-dimensionality, reminding the world that her cousin loved mathematics and philosophy, that he never missed a day of high school, and that he was a prankster, lover, father and brother.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
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
What prankster would waste his money like that?
From "Warcross" by Marie Lu
Naive, blundering hobbyists and reckless pranksters can also veer into restricted airspace, setting off alarms and potentially shutting down airport traffic.
From Barron's ● Oct. 14, 2025
Goldie's mate, Regina, had her own adventure when she was snatched the following February by student pranksters at Manchester University who sawed through a padlock to access the cage.
From BBC ● Mar. 2, 2025
But like generations of pilgrims, dropouts, and merry pranksters before him, what he discovered on that journey was his mission.
From Salon ● Feb. 28, 2025
It could also be Bermuda, Elon Musk, teenage pranksters, the U.S.
From Slate ● Dec. 14, 2024
Leprechauns eat leaves and, despite their reputation as pranksters, are not known ever to have done lasting damage to a human.
From "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" by J.K. Rowling
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.
