practical joker

noun

Someone who instigates practical jokes; a prankster.

Similar
prankstercut-uptrickstertrickerhoaxer
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

nounpractical joker (plural practical jokers)

plural practical jokers

  1. Someone who instigates practical jokes; a prankster.

    Some of his allies miss the old Zelensky, the practical joker with the boyish smile. But they realize he needs to be different now, much harder and deaf to distractions, or else his country might not survive.

    December 7 2022, Simon Shuster, “2022 Person of the Year: Volodymyr Zelensky”, in Time, archived from the original on 04 Jan 2023

Synonyms & antonyms

nounsomeone who plays practical jokes on others

Similar
prankstercut-uptrickstertrickerhoaxer
Broader
troublemakertrouble makertroubler
Also see
hoaxerprankstertrickertrickstertroublemaker

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

From practical joke + -er.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Latin trīcō
  • trīcōsomeone who instigates practical jokes
Polish figlarz, figlarka
  • figlarzsomeone who instigates practical jokes
  • figlarkasomeone who instigates practical jokes
Cite this entry
APA

practical joker. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/practical%20joker

MLA

“practical joker.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/practical%20joker. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “practical joker,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/practical%20joker.

Source: practical joker on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.