How to Use practical joke in a Sentence

practical joke

noun
  • One of the children filled the sugar bowl with salt as a practical joke.
  • But no, this wasn’t any kind of practical joke or movie scene.
    — Vogue, 23 Feb. 2018
  • Jordan had thought he’d been set up for a practical joke.
    — Mike Dojc, Forbes.com, 22 Aug. 2025
  • This is all some practical joke that’s being played on me.
    — Michael Nied, People.com, 26 Aug. 2025
  • The piece is half statue, half practical joke.
    — Zachary Fine, New Yorker, 31 Mar. 2026
  • The idea goes back to a practical joke team members often play on a new bat boy.
    — Steve Gardner, USA TODAY, 30 June 2021
  • With over 300 episodes to shoot, there was time for some practical jokes.
    — Jordan Hoffman, Entertainment Weekly, 7 Sep. 2025
  • Gabourey Sidibe is taking her love for practical jokes to the next level.
    — Stephanie Sengwe, Peoplemag, 3 July 2023
  • Spring-training suspense revolved more around what practical joke would come next more than who would make the team.
    — David Haugh, chicagotribune.com, 28 Mar. 2018
  • Others find humor and stress relief in a good laugh and an amusing practical joke.
    — Washington Post, 1 Apr. 2021
  • All of a sudden, the party was over—my dad’s greatest practical joke was kaput.
    — Gregg Opelka, WSJ, 18 June 2021
  • His favorite thing to do was to pull practical jokes on our manager, Blake.
    — Michael Barnes, Austin American-Statesman, 19 July 2024
  • George loved practical jokes, going to extreme lengths for the ultimate prank.
    — courant.com, 26 Oct. 2019
  • Brady tried to loosen things up by playing a practical joke that involved letting a ferret loose in the training room.
    — Gary Gramling, SI.com, 20 Jan. 2018
  • Each birth anniversary, there's a well-meaning but hurtful practical joke.
    — Jacobina Martin, Washington Post, 1 Apr. 2024
  • Each birth anniversary, there’s a well-meaning but hurtful practical joke.
    — Judith Martin, The Mercury News, 1 Apr. 2024
  • All this takes place on Prank Day, when Sims play practical jokes on one another.
    — Bethy Squires, Vulture, 2 June 2023
  • Dogs shot for no reason (and then used as props for gruesome practical jokes by the EMTs).
    — Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 29 Mar. 2024
  • So this isn't some anonymous troll or a fly-by-night company that was set up just to play a practical joke on the Internet.
    — Kyle Orland, Ars Technica, 19 June 2019
  • Detroit Free Press Will Dowell loves few things more than a good practical joke.
    — Chris Solari, Detroit Free Press, 24 Apr. 2020
  • Buss never minded being the butt of the players’ mocking or practical jokes, as long as everyone got a laugh out of it and got work in.
    — Paul Sullivan, chicagotribune.com, 1 Nov. 2019
  • The disguise played a superbly Tuscan practical joke on his unwitting hosts.
    — Ingrid D. Rowland, The New York Review of Books, 13 May 2021
  • The disguise played a superbly Tuscan practical joke on his unwitting hosts.
    — Ingrid D. Rowland, The New York Review of Books, 27 Apr. 2021
  • Only then did Simon realize that Onassis had played a practical joke on her.
    — NBC News, 22 Oct. 2019
  • The crowd also was incensed by a practical joke that brought a fire department hose cart and a hook and ladder truck clanging up to the Lee home.
    — Ben Welter, Star Tribune, 29 May 2020
  • From flying tackles to fishing rods, from heavy drinking sessions to practical jokes, there was true off-pitch madness amid all the on-pitch greatness.
    — SI.com, 24 June 2018
  • Most nights, Augie held court while tending bar, ready with a witty remark or practical joke, or just to loan a friend some cash or a sympathetic ear.
    — Journal Sentinel, 17 Jan. 2024
  • DeZago said the signs were most likely taken from other locations during the night by local youths and placed on that one lawn as a practical joke.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 7 May 2021
  • Three times this has happened to me; once, regretfully, the charge was led by Herr Doktor, who at least was playing a practical joke.
    — Marc Peruzzi, Outside Online, 15 May 2018
  • At a lavish country house party, a practical joke appears to have gone horribly, murderously wrong.
    — Jake Kanter, Deadline, 4 Nov. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'practical joke.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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