Word.ws English Dictionary

give a monkey's

give a monkey's verb: to care; to have an interest or concern.

Verb

give a monkey's (third-person singular simple present gives a monkey's, present participle giving a monkey's, simple past gave a monkey's, past participle given a monkey's)

  1. (UK, idiomatic, informal) To care; to have an interest or concern.
    • He knows what he can do with his calendars. I don't give a monkey's. I'm leaving. I've got another job.1998, Willis Hall, Keith Waterhouse, Billy Liar
    • I couldn't give a monkey's. What I am interested in is the things that drive the big numbers.2002, a British Manufacturing Director, quotee, edited by Robert Westwood and Stephen Linstead, The Language of Organization, page 71
    Synonyms:
    becare, bother, care, concern oneself, heed, mind, reck, trouble oneself, worry

Examples of give a monkey's in a sentence

  • Though a huge majority of the population may have continued not to give a monkey's for Derrida, Lacan, or Foucault themselves […]2004, Randall Stevenson, The Oxford English Literary History, 1960–2000:
  • A friend living in France reports that the French don't give a monkey's about unpasteurized dairy products (cheese, etc.) but that they are completely paranoid about le toxoplasmosis.2005, Justine Roberts, Carrie Longton, Mums on Pregnancy: Trade Secrets from the Real Experts:

Synonyms of give a monkey's

Forms of give a monkey's

third-person singular presentgives a monkey's
present participlegiving a monkey's
pastgave a monkey's
past participlegiven a monkey's

Origin of give a monkey's

Possibly a euphemistic ellipsis of “to give a monkey's toss”, “to give a monkey's shit”, "to give a monkey's fart", or “to give a monkey's arse”; compare give a rat's arse or give a rat's ass.

Questions about give a monkey's

What does give a monkey's mean?
Give a monkey's means to care; to have an interest or concern.
How do you use give a monkey's in a sentence?
Though a huge majority of the population may have continued not to give a monkey's for Derrida, Lacan, or Foucault themselves […]
What part of speech is give a monkey's?
Give a monkey's is a verb.
What is the past tense of give a monkey's?
The past tense of give a monkey's is gave a monkey's.

Words near give a monkey's in the dictionary

  1. give a knee
  2. give a light
  3. give a loose
  4. give a man a fish
  5. give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime
  6. give a monkey's
  7. give a rat's arse
  8. give a rat's ass
  9. give a rats
  10. give a rip
  11. give a shit

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: give a monkey's (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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