prank call

4 synonyms 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.

hoax

Rare, literary or technical

Precise, but they will stand out — check the sense before using one.

crank call hoax call nuisance call

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.”

crank call hoax call nuisance call

2. verb

To make such a call to someone.

“They spent the whole sleepover prank calling the local pizza place.”

crank call hoax

How to use prank call

The word patterns that sound natural to a native speaker.

make a prank call a series of prank calls prank call the school classic prank call

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.

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Nearby words

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