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Buffoonery vs Prank - What's the difference?

buffoonery | prank | Related terms |

Buffoonery is a related term of prank.


As nouns the difference between buffoonery and prank

is that buffoonery is foolishness, silliness; the behaviour expected of a buffoon while prank is (obsolete) an evil deed; a malicious trick, an act of cruel deception.

As a verb prank is

to adorn in a showy manner; to dress or equip ostentatiously.

As an adjective prank is

(obsolete) full of gambols or tricks.

buffoonery

English

Noun

(buffooneries)
  • foolishness, silliness; the behaviour expected of a buffoon.
  • * 1693 : William Congreve, The Old Bachelor
    • Araminta, come, I'll talk seriously to you now; could you but see with my eyes the buffoonery of one scene of address, a lover, set out with all his equipage and appurtenances; ...
  • * 1814 : Jane Austen, Mansfield Park
    • One could not expect anybody to take such a part. Nothing but buffoonery from beginning to end.
  • * before 1891 : P.T. Barnum, quoted in The Life of Phineas T. Barnum [http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/1576]
    • The Temperance Reform was too serious a matter for trifling jokes and buffooneries .

    prank

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (obsolete) An evil deed; a malicious trick, an act of cruel deception.
  • *, II.4.2.ii:
    • Hercules, after all his mad pranks upon his wife and children, was perfectly cured by a purge of hellebor, which an Antieyrian administered unto him.
  • A practical joke or mischievous trick.
  • * Shakespeare
    • His pranks have been too broad to bear with.
  • * Sir Walter Raleigh
    • The harpies played their accustomed pranks .
    Pranks may be funny, but remember that some people are aggressive.
    He pulled a gruesome prank on his sister.

    Synonyms

    * See also

    Derived terms

    * prankish * pranksome * prankster

    Verb

  • To adorn in a showy manner; to dress or equip ostentatiously.
  • * Spenser
    • In sumptuous tire she joyed herself to prank .
  • * 1748 , , B:II
    • And there a Sea?on atween June and May,
    Half prankt with Spring, with Summer half imbrown'd,
    A li?tle?s Climate made, where, Sooth to ?ay,
    No living Wight could work, ne cared even for Play.
  • * 1880 , For Spring, by Sandro Botticelli , lines 2–3
    • ''Flora, wanton-eyed
    ''For birth, and with all flowrets prankt and pied:
  • To make ostentatious show.
  • * M. Arnold
    • White houses prank where once were huts.
  • To perform a practical joke on; to trick.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2007, date=May 13, author=Karen Crouse, title=Still Invitation Only, but Jets Widen Door for Camp, work=New York Times citation
    • , passage=“If someone’s pranking me,” Rowlands remembered thinking, “they’re going to great lengths to make it work.” }}
  • (slang) To call someone's phone and promptly hang up
    • Hey man, prank me when you wanna get picked up.
    I don't have your number in my phone, can you prank me?

    Synonyms

    (call and promptly hang up) missed call, missed-call

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • (obsolete) Full of gambols or tricks.
    • (Webster 1913) English transitive verbs