shenanigan
Americannoun
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Usually shenanigans.
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mischief; prankishness.
Halloween shenanigans.
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deceit; trickery.
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a mischievous or deceitful trick, practice, etc.
noun
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(usually plural) roguishness; mischief
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an act of treachery; deception
Etymology
Origin of shenanigan
An Americanism dating back to 1850–55; of obscure origin
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.
After he was placed in jail following that latest shenanigan, it seemed as though there might be less opportunity for Manafort to embarrass himself through easily discovered efforts to monkey with his case.
From Slate • Jul. 11, 2018
We’re there in the forests and the boardrooms for each technological breakthrough, financial innovation and political shenanigan as Duke & Sons clear-cuts its way to a lucrative future.
From Washington Post • Jun. 6, 2016
“I had to Google what that thing was, the whole shenanigan was, what the meaning was,” he says.
From The Guardian • May 20, 2016
That sort of shenanigan may not be the future of college sports, but we may be getting closer to the day when money isn’t a four-letter word for student-athletes.
From Time • Feb. 25, 2015
I ask him what kind of a melodramatic shenanigan is this?
From The Lost Kafoozalum by Ashwell, Pauline
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.
