Meaning & use
jape
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Meanings
nouncountableold-fashionedhumorous
A harmless trick or joke played just for fun, often a playful bit of mischief.
Grammar: Often found in adventure stories or British humor.
Patterns
- a jape on someone
- play a jape on someone
The students planned a harmless jape involving a rubber duck on the headmaster's desk.
It started as a jape, but the prank got out of hand.
Their weekend trip was full of silly japes.
verbintransitiveold-fashionedliterary
To joke or play tricks in a lighthearted way.
Grammar: Has no object: they were japing around.
Patterns
- jape with someone
- jape about something
The sailors japed with each other all through the night shift.
He loved to jape about the strict rules of the old house.
Word forms
| plural | japes |
|---|---|
| third person singular | japes |
| past tense | japed |
| -ing form | japing |
Common combinations
- a harmless jape
- The painted footprints were just a harmless jape.
- play a jape on
- They played a jape on the new teacher by swapping all the chairs.
- a schoolboy jape
- Cutting the ribbon early was a classic schoolboy jape.
- japes and capers
- The film is a romp of japes and capers.
Synonyms and how they differ
- prank
- Prank is the usual modern word and sounds less dated than jape.
- lark
- Lark often means the fun activity itself, while a jape is a specific trick or joke.
- caper
- Caper suggests a lively, adventurous escapade rather than a simple joke.
- hoax
- A hoax is designed to deceive people, and is usually less lighthearted than a jape.
Opposites
Word family
- japer noun
- someone who plays japes, rarely used
- japery noun
- joking or mischievous behavior, rare
- japing noun
- the act of joking around
Commonly confused: jape or Japan?
jape vs Japan
Jape has nothing to do with Japan; it is a plain English word for a joke or prank.
Practice
The boys' ___ with the fake spider was meant to make their sister jump, not to upset her.
Choose one answer.
A jape is a playful trick, which matches the harmless intent. A dispute is an argument, which does not involve a fake spider.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “jape”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.