Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use monkey in a sentence

40 example sentences · noun, verb

Monkey means a member of the clade Simiiformes other than those in the clade Hominoidea containing apes, generally (but not universally) distinguished by small size, tails, and cheek pouches. Example: “He had been visiting an area zoo when a monkey swung from its tree perch, swiped his glasses and hurled them into a hippo hole.”

Examples of monkey by meaning

nounA member of the clade Simiiformes other than those in the clade Hominoidea containing apes, generally (but not...

  • He had been visiting an area zoo when a monkey swung from its tree perch, swiped his glasses and hurled them into a hippo hole.
  • They thought of, I don’t know, monkeys and caipirinhas and samba.”2007 September 20, Eric Wilson, “Blame It on Rio and Gisele”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 18 Sep 2020

nounAny simian primate other than hominids; any monkey or ape.

  • Chimpanzees are known to form bands to hunt and kill other monkeys.

nounThe weight of a pile driver or drop hammer.

  • Someone handed me a monkey of grog.2007, Broos Campbell, No Quarter, page 111

nounA drug habit; an addiction; a compulsion.

  • Everybody's got something to hide except for me and my monkey.
  • Monkey: a habit, as in "I have a monkey on my back." Usually used when one is sick from lack of drugs.1938, Alfred R. Lindesmith, "Argot of the Underworld Drug Addict", Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, Vol. 29, Issue 2 (July-August)
  • I thought I would like to learn about the dope scene anyway, and the boy must have some character, you know, if he got the monkey off his back (as they used to say in our time) without outside help.1976 September, Saul Bellow, Humboldt’s Gift, New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, →ISBN, page 431

verbTo meddle; to mess (with).

  • Please don't monkey with the controls if you don't know what you're doing.

verbTo mimic; to ape.

  • He winked at Liza, who monkeyed him, holding her own eye shut.2011, Elizabeth Mosier, The Playgroup, page 83

More sentences with monkey

  • On arriving at the zoo, we immediately headed for the monkey house.From the entry house
  • Some monkeys have prehensile tails which they use to pick things up.From the entry prehensile
  • He thinks he’s a barrel of monkeys, but he’s not particularly entertaining.From the entry barrel of monkeys
  • We could hear the monkeys vocalizing, though we could not see them.From the entry vocalize
  • You wouldn't want a dog running around the house, much less a monkey!From the entry much less
  • He's a mud monkey digging all-day, gathering clay for his sculpture.From the entry mud monkey
  • I want to speak to the organ grinder, not the monkey.From the entry organ grinder
  • I've got my beady eye on you, so don't try any monkey business.From the entry beady eye
  • The monkey pressed its face against the railings.From the entry face
  • I believe we went off onto a tangent when we started talking about monkeys on unicycles at his retirement party.From the entry tangent
  • It's brass monkey weather today, isn't it?From the entry brass monkey
  • Blimey, it's brass monkeys out there today.From the entry brass monkeys
  • Stop all this monkey business and do your homework!From the entry monkey business
  • She wondered what sort of monkey business her neighbour was up to, sneaking out of his house at 1:00 am.From the entry monkey business
  • The monkeys’ calls warn other animals of approachers.From the entry approacher
  • Diana monkeys are generally black or dark grey, but have a white throat, crescent-shaped browband, ruff and beard.From the entry browband
  • Will try to fix it by myself for now: as a last resort, we can always take it to a grease monkey.From the entry last
  • The researchers deafferented the monkeys' limbs.From the entry deafferent
  • Now, eat your banana, little monkey." She nodded at Annabelle's hand.2024, Robin W. Pearson, chapter 1, in Kathryn S. Olson, editor, Dysfunction Junction […], Carol Stream, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers…. From the entry oo oo aa aa
  • Like a set of monkey bars, you can use to do your home street workouts.2021, Shawn Burke, Home Fitness Regimen Training Guide. From the entry street workout
  • There's a term for it called "monkey branching" that was introduced in the previous chapters.2020, Acie Mitchell, How to Be a High Value Man: The Blueprint to Success With Women, page 67. From the entry monkey-branch
  • Good question, but let's not forget the bigger issue here: he's a monkey.2018 September 6, Peter Crouch, How to Be a Footballer, Random House, →ISBN. From the entry shout
  • Hominoids differ from monkeys in several ways, the most striking being the lack of an external tail.2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: The First 100 Million Years, Penguin, published 2019, page 111. From the entry hominoid
  • Researchers must learn to speak “ratese” with rat subjects or “monkeyese” with monkeys.2016, Bryan Kolb, Ian Q[uentin] Whishaw, G. Campbell Teskey, “How Do We Study the Brain’s Structures and Functions?”, in An Introduction…. From the entry monkeyese
  • Without a second thought, the highlander held the leaf monkey in his arms and hurried back home.2015, Kekang He, New Theory of Children’s Thinking Development, →ISBN. From the entry leaf monkey
  • These very kinds of monkeys, that ride bikes and trikes and was it unikes in American circuses.2014, Jina Ortiz, Rochelle Spencer, All about Skin, University of Wisconsin Pres, page 68. From the entry unike
  • In this study the Cebus monkeys had very low levels of aortic sudanophilia.2012, Robert A. Harris, Feeding and Nutrition of Nonhuman primates, page 165. From the entry sudanophilia
  • In the late afternoon, I went for a walk along a monkey puzzle-lined trail.2012, Lawrence Winkler, Orion's Cartwheel, Victoria, BC: First Choice Books, →ISBN, page 178. From the entry monkey puzzle
  • It was cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey.2012, Bud Crawford -, Down Home, →ISBN, page 46. From the entry cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey
  • Due to their abundance, Golden Hill is known locally as Ma Lau Shan (monkey mountain).2012 September 16, Jason, “Then & now: what the macaque?”, in South China Morning Post, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 13 Sep…. From the entry Golden Hill
  • But then one day, a mischievous monkey landed with a purposeful plop right onto a capy's back!2011, Catherine Thimmesh, Friends: True Stories of Extraordinary Animal Friendships. From the entry capy

Meaning of monkey

  1. noun A member of the clade Simiiformes other than those in the clade Hominoidea containing apes, generally (but not universally) distinguished by small size, tails, and cheek pouches.
  2. noun Any simian, including humans.
  3. noun Any simian primate other than hominids; any monkey or ape.

Full definition of monkey

Questions about monkey in a sentence

How do you use monkey in a sentence?
Monkey is used as a noun and verb. For example: “He had been visiting an area zoo when a monkey swung from its tree perch, swiped his glasses and hurled them into a hippo hole.”
What is a short sentence with monkey?
“The researchers deafferented the monkeys' limbs.”
What does monkey mean?
Monkey means a member of the clade Simiiformes other than those in the clade Hominoidea containing apes, generally (but not universally) distinguished by small size, tails, and cheek pouches.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: monkey (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use monkey in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/monkey. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.