monkeying
Playfully tampering with
Monkeying is playful, aimless activity—fooling around or tinkering without serious purpose.
Usually appears with "around" or "with": Stop monkeying around and get to work.
To monkey with something is to tamper or fiddle with it, often unwisely: Someone's been monkeying with the thermostat.
Playful mischievous acts
- shenanigansMischievous or deceitful behavior
- tomfooleryFoolish or silly behavior
- anticsAbsurd, attention-seeking behavior
- hijinksBoisterous playful mischief
capers · troublemaking · fooling · tinkering · fiddling · tampering · meddling · interfering
Playing with energetic movement
- frolickingLighthearted energetic movement
- cavortingMoving playfully, energetically
- gambolingPlayful jumping about
- clowningPlayful comic behavior
capering · larking · horsing · roughhousing · wrestling · tumbling · scampering · rollicking
Imitating closely
- mimickingCopying another's behavior
- copyingReproducing something exactly
- parrotingMechanical verbal imitation
- impersonatingAssuming another's identity
mocking · emulating · mirroring · pantomiming · spoofing · satirizing · caricaturing · lampooning
pranks
Playful mischievous acts
- shenanigansMischievous or deceitful behavior
- tomfooleryFoolish or silly behavior
- anticsAbsurd, attention-seeking behavior
hijinks · capers · troublemaking · fooling · tinkering · fiddling · tampering · meddling · interfering · sabotage
romping
Playing with energetic movement
- frolickingLighthearted energetic movement
- cavortingMoving playfully, energetically
- gambolingPlayful jumping about
clowning · capering · larking · horsing · roughhousing · wrestling · tumbling · scampering · rollicking · prancing
aping
Imitating closely
- mimickingCopying another's behavior
- copyingReproducing something exactly
- parrotingMechanical verbal imitation
impersonating · mocking · emulating · mirroring · pantomiming · spoofing · satirizing · caricaturing · lampooning · parodying
- anticshijinks, shenanigans, pranks, mischief, tomfoolery
- messing aroundfooling, goofing, goofing off, horsing around, messing with
- fiddlingfiddling, fiddle, fiddler, fiddle tune, fiddle tunes
monkeyingworking
In active function
laboring · toiling · buckling down · applying oneself · getting down to business
- monkeying aroundBehaving in frivolous mischief
- monkeying aboutBehaving in silly, playful ways