antic

1. 1.

   act as or like a clown

   Synonymsclownclown around

   Broaderjoke

1. 1.

   ludicrously odd

   “Hamlet's assumed antic disposition”

   “fantastic Halloween costumes”

   “a grotesque reflection in the mirror”

   Synonymsfantasticfantasticalgrotesque

   Similarstrange

Other forms of antic

plural

antics·

past tense

anticed·

present participle

anticing·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about antic

What does antic mean?

antic means "a ludicrous or grotesque act done for fun and amusement". That is the primary sense; the word has 3 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in antic?

antic has 2 syllables: an-tic. The stress falls on "an". In IPA it is /ˈæntɪk/.

What is another word for antic?

Close synonyms include joke, prank, trick, caper, put-on. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is antic a common word?

antic is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.