Meaning & use
play hooky
To stay away from school or work without permission, especially to do something more enjoyable.
See it in a sentence
The two friends decided to play hooky and spend the afternoon at the beach instead.
He got caught playing hooky when his teacher called home to ask why he was absent.
A note on using this word
Play hooky is an informal American English idiom; British English speakers more often say skive off for the same idea.
Words with a similar meaning
skip schoolcut class
Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.
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