monkey business

English

Beware of monkeys. Keep the windows closed

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

Noun

monkey business (uncountable)

1. (US, slang) Wasting time, or effort, on some foolish project.
2. An activity that is considered silly, or stupid, or time-wasting.
3. (idiomatic) An activity that may be considered illegal, questionable, or a vice, but not felonious.
   • Do your homework and forget about all this monkey business.

Related terms

• I'll be a monkey's uncle
• monkey
• monkey around
• monkeyshine

Translations

an activity that is considered silly, or stupid, or time-wasting (idiomatic)

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 胡鬧／胡闹 (zh) (húnào), 胡闹 (zh) (húnào), 惡作劇／恶作剧 (zh) (èzuòjù), 恶作剧 (zh) (èzuòjù)

• Finnish: ajanhukka (fi)
• French: bêtise (fr) f, espièglerie (fr) f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• German: Affentheater (de) n
• Italian: roba da matti f
• Japanese: 悪戯 (いたずら, itazura)
• Russian: валя́ние дурака́ n (valjánije duraká) (rolling a fool), озорство́ (ru) n (ozorstvó), безобра́зие (ru) n (bezobrázije), ша́лость (ru) f (šálostʹ)
• Swedish: rackartyg (sv) n, sattyg (sv) n

an activity that may be considered illegal, questionable, or a vice, but not felonious (idiomatic)

• Finnish: venkoilu (fi)
• Japanese: 裏工作 (うらこうさく, urakōsaku) (dodgy dealings), いんちき (ja) (inchiki)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Russian: хи́трости (ru) f pl (xítrosti)
• Swedish: bedrägeri (sv) n

References

• “monkey business”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.