noun, verb ·2 syllables ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   Rough or rowdy play that can often result in unintentional physical harm. uncountable

   "After a little horseplay and floating around, April said "Look over there, it's our skinny dipper." […]"

2. 2
   rowdy or boisterous play wordnet

Verb

1. 1
   To engage in horseplay. intransitive

   "Near-synonym: play fight"

Synonyms

All synonyms

roughhousebadnessbanterbuffoonerycarry oncavort

Example

More examples

"After a little horseplay and floating around, April said "Look over there, it's our skinny dipper." […]"

Etymology

A compound of horse + play, possibly from observation of boisterous horses playing, or from its attributive sense "strong, big or coarse".

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.