practical joker
4
3.9
- noun
- /ˈpræktɪkəl ˈdʒoʊkər/
:
bromista
- As a notorious practical joker, she always finds new ways to make her friends smile with her clever pranks.
- the best practical joker
And I, I met a friend of mine once and this guy's a practical joker.
- And I, I met a friend of mine once and this guy's a practical joker.
Examples
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A practical joker, eh?
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Benjamin is a practical joker.
Fiction book (1995) -
I was never a very good practical joker.
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I guess you could call us a bunch of practical jokers.
Fiction book (2002) -
Roger was always a practical joker.
Fiction book (1999) -
You should know, we are dealing with the world's two biggest practical jokers.
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"He was a fun-loving kid and could be a practical joker," Grauer said.
Blog text (6) -
He's a practical joker.
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My brother is such a practical joker; he once replaced the salt with sugar at dinner.
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At the party, everyone laughed when my friend pulled a classic practical joker stunt involving fake spiders.
Synonyms
35
2.4
A person who likes to tell jokes and make others laugh
24
4.1
A person who plays tricks on people to make them laugh
20
6.0
A person who lies to or cheats others, often to have fun
16
3.5
A person who jokes and teases others to make them laugh
7
4.4
A person who often makes other people laugh
3
7.8
A person who acts silly to make others laugh
A person who plays tricks on other people
A person who plays tricks to embarrass or fool other people
A person in a group who often makes others laugh with funny stories or actions
A person who likes to make jokes or play small tricks to have fun
How Mischievous
- Offensive
69
4.1
2
6.0
4
3.9
35
2.4
267
1.7
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'practical' specifies the kind of 'joker'—one who performs practical jokes or pranks. A B1 learner who knows 'practical' (relating to real-world/action) and 'joker' (someone who makes jokes) can reliably infer a person who plays tricks, so the expression is transparent.
Etymology
Practical joker comes from the idea of a practical joke, where 'practical' means a hands-on trick and a joker is the person who does it. So a practical joker is someone who plays real, physical pranks to make people laugh.