prank call
4 synonyms and 0 antonyms for prank call, grouped by meaning and by how common each one is.
Noun — A telephone call made to a stranger or a friend purely to trick, tease or annoy them, usually with a false story or a scripted joke.
Synonyms
Less common
Still standard English, but they carry more weight.
Rare, literary or technical
Precise, but they will stand out — check the sense before using one.
Synonyms by Meaning
1. noun
A telephone call made to a stranger or a friend purely to trick, tease or annoy them, usually with a false story or a scripted joke.
“The radio station built its whole breakfast show around prank calls to local businesses.”
2. verb
To make such a call to someone.
“They spent the whole sleepover prank calling the local pizza place.”
How to Use Prank Call
The word patterns that sound natural to a native speaker.
Informal. Official and legal contexts prefer "hoax call" or "nuisance call".
Etymology
A compound of prank and call, on the pattern of earlier crank call.
Full origin of prank call →Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between a prank call and a crank call?
They describe the same act, but the tone differs. "Prank call" suggests a joke aimed at getting a laugh, while "crank call" more often suggests a call made to harass, and is the older term in American English.
Are prank calls illegal?
Making a joke call to a friend is not usually an offence, but repeated or menacing calls to strangers can amount to harassment or malicious communications in the UK and to telephone harassment in most US states. Hoax calls to the emergency services are a specific criminal offence almost everywhere.
What is a swatting call?
Swatting is a far more serious form of hoax call in which someone reports a fake emergency, such as a hostage situation, to send armed police to another person's address. It has caused deaths and is prosecuted as a serious crime, not as a prank.