Synonyms and Antonyms of shenanigan
1
usually shenanigans plural
playful, reckless behavior that is not intended to cause serious harm
- students engaging in youthful shenanigans on the last day of school
devilishness, devilment, devilry (or deviltry), diablerie, espièglerie, hob, impishness, knavery, mischief, mischievousness, rascality, roguery, roguishness, waggery, waggishness, wickedness
diabolicalness, misbehavior, misconduct, naughtiness, troublemaking
buffoonery, friskiness, playfulness, sportiveness
chicanery, trickery
goings-on, hanky-panky, high jinks (also hijinks), monkey business, monkeying, monkeyshine(s), skylarking, tomfoolery
horseplay, roughhousing
antic, caper, dido, practical joke, trick
aggravation, annoyance, exasperation, irritation
2
usually shenanigans plural
wildly playful or mischievous behavior
- an act of vandalism that went way beyond the usual shenanigans at summer camp
buffoonery, clownery, clowning, foolery, high jinks (also hijinks), horseplay, horsing around, monkey business, monkeying, monkeyshine(s), roughhouse, roughhousing, skylarking, slapstick, tomfoolery
childishness, clownishness, foolishness, funning, jesting, joking, nonsense, silliness, waggery
boisterousness, rambunctiousness, rowdiness, rowdyism, rumbustiousness [chiefly British]
devilry (or deviltry), impishness, knavery, mischief, mischievousness, prankishness, rascality, roguery, roguishness, trickery
cavorting, frivolity, frolicking, gamboling (or gambolling), merrymaking, playfulness, revelry, roistering, romping, sporting, sportiveness
3
a clever often underhanded means to achieve an end
- the street-corner huckster of pirated DVDs had all sorts of shenanigans to keep the cops off of his tail
artifice, device, dodge, fetch, flimflam, gambit, gimmick, jig, juggle, knack, play, ploy, ruse, scheme, sleight, stratagem, trick, wile
bluff, end run, feint
cheating, chicanery, cozenage, craft, crookery, cunning, deception, dupery, duplicity, fakery, jugglery, legerdemain, skulduggery (or skullduggery), subterfuge, swindling, trickery
fraud, gaff, hoax, sham, swindle
blind, front, smoke screen
