WORD OF THE DAY: SHENANIGANS
plural noun | shuh-NAN-ih-gunz
What It Means
Shenanigans is an informal word used to refer to activity or behavior that is either not honest or proper, or is mischievous or high-spirited. Its oldest meaning, and the one most likely to be encountered as the singular shenanigan, is “a devious trick used especially for an underhanded purpose.”
// The CEO resigned amid accusations of financial shenanigans and dubious deals.
// The tween sleepover shenanigans involved goofy hats, fake mustaches, and giggles galore but everyone eventually fell asleep.
Shenanigans in Context
“Do you remember what it was like to be bored—like really bored? As a Gen Xer, I didn’t grow up scrolling social media or playing endless hours of ‘Minecraft’ to keep me busy; instead, I spent a fair amount of my free time after school crafting the perfect prank call. … In retrospect, it was time well spent. Well, maybe. Some shenanigans may have gone too far.” — Elana Rabinowitz, The Los Angeles Times, 10 Feb. 2026
Did You Know?
Fool us once, shame on you; fool us twice, shame on us. Either way, we call it shenanigans, employing a word whose history is as slippery as the monkey business it names. We know that the word likely first appeared in print in the 1850s in the western United States. But most theories of its genesis assert that it was born in the British Isles, with potential origin words referring to such things as silly behavior, feigned illness, and a sweet rum-beer libation. Although the “underhanded trick” sense of the word is oldest, the most common senses in use now are those referring to the dishonest or improper activity of “political shenanigans,” or to the high-spirited or mischievous behavior of “youthful shenanigans.”
Merriam Webster Dictionary
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