Monkey Around

Meaning of Idiom ‘Monkey Around’

To monkey around means to engage in idle and unproductive activity; to behave in a silly, unserious, or annoying way.

A common variation is ‘monkey around with,’ meaning to tinker or fiddle with something, such as a device or machine, often in a way that could damage it. “My dad is monkeying around with his old lawnmower again.”

Other prepositions, like ‘on’ can be used: “Stop monkeying around on that tablet and clean your room.”

The idiom ‘monkey around’ is similar to ‘fool around’ but to fool around has additional meanings.

A related idiom is monkey business.

Sentence Examples

“The kids are monkeying around in the back yard while I make dinner.”

“They didn’t mean to break the lamp. The kids were just monkeying around. Being kids.”

“Have you been monkeying around with my computer again? It’s acting funny.”

“Are you going to just monkey around all day or are we going to do something?”

“She’d rather monkey around with her friends than do school work.”

“The kids were kicking sand at each other so the lifeguard told them to stop monkeying around.”

“…I’m tired of you monkeying around. You don’t get your act together; you’re out of my show. Okay?” — Krrish (2006)

“Somebody’s been monkeying around with those road signs. That ain’t the road to Ambléve. Two hours ago, I came here from Ambléve.”  — Battle of the Bulge (1965)

“You’ve got an extra deedle in there. It’s six deedles, not seven. Let’s not monkey around with Beethoven, shall we?” — Kiss Me, Stupid (1964)

Origin

Alluding to the playful and silly antics of monkeys, monkey around is probably the American version of the earlier British phrase ‘monkey about.’

Monkey about has been used since at least the 1880s while monkey around is found in print by the 189os.

The musical act The Monkees used the phrase in the theme song for their television show:

Hey, hey we’re the monkeys, and people say we monkey around,
But we’re too busy singing to put anybody down

More Monkey Idioms