What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Prank vs Mock - What's the difference?

prank | mock |

As nouns the difference between prank and mock

is that prank is (obsolete) an evil deed; a malicious trick, an act of cruel deception while mock is an imitation, usually of lesser quality.

As verbs the difference between prank and mock

is that prank is to adorn in a showy manner; to dress or equip ostentatiously while mock is to mimic, to simulate.

As adjectives the difference between prank and mock

is that prank is (obsolete) full of gambols or tricks while mock is imitation, not genuine; fake.

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

    mock

    English

    Alternative forms

    * (l) (obsolete)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An imitation, usually of lesser quality.
  • (Crashaw)
  • Mockery, the act of mocking.
  • * Bible, Proverbs xiv. 9
  • Fools make a mock at sin.
  • A practice exam set by an educating institution to prepare students for an important exam.
  • He got a B in his History mock , but improved to an A in the exam.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To mimic, to simulate.
  • * Shakespeare
  • To see the life as lively mocked' as ever / Still sleep ' mocked death.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Mocking marriage with a dame of France.
  • To make fun of by mimicking, to taunt.
  • * Bible, 1 Kings xviii. 27
  • Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud.
  • * Gray
  • Let not ambition mock their useful toil.
  • To tantalise, and disappoint (the hopes of).
  • * Bible, Judges xvi. 13
  • Thou hast mocked me, and told me lies.
  • * 1597 , William Shakespeare, Henry IV , Part II, Act V, Scene III:
  • And with his spirit sadly I survive, / to mock the expectations of the world; / to frustrate prophecies, and to raze out / rotten opinion
  • * 1603 , William Shakespeare, Othello , Act III, Scene III:
  • "It is the greene-ey'd Monster, which doth mocke / The meate it feeds on."
  • * 1667 , John Milton, Paradise Lost :
  • Why do I overlive? / Why am I mocked with death, and lengthened out / to deathless pain?
  • * Milton
  • He will not / Mock us with his blest sight, then snatch him hence.
  • * 1765 , Benjamin Heath, A revisal of Shakespear's text , page 563 (a commentary on the "mocke the meate" line from Othello):
  • ‘Mock’ certainly never signifies to loath. Its common signification is, to disappoint.
  • * 1812 , The Critical Review or, Annals of Literature , page 190:
  • The French revolution indeed is a prodigy which has mocked the expectations both of its friends and its foes. It has cruelly disappointed the fondest hopes of the first, nor has it observed that course which the last thought that it would have pursued.

    Synonyms

    * See also * See also

    See also

    * jeer

    Adjective

    (-)
  • Imitation, not genuine; fake.