deviltry
Americannoun
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reckless or unrestrained mischievous behavior.
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extreme or utter wickedness.
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an act or instance of mischievous or wicked behavior.
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diabolic magic or art.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of deviltry
First recorded in 1780–90; variant of devilry
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The mildly disastrous consequences of Eddie’s deviltry predictably set up the big moment at the end of the show in which Ward or June Cleaver would distill an important Life Lesson from the experience.
From Washington Post ● May 18, 2020
Why does Dirk — clearly an evil mastermind on the rise — care so much about his wishy-washy, rather inept partner in deviltry?
From Washington Post ● Jun. 4, 2019
It was another bit of deviltry cooked up by education majors.
From Slate ● Oct. 3, 2012
Although she left the décor as it was, she could not resist a bit of deviltry.
From New York Times ● Jul. 9, 2011
The last I saw of him, he lay on his left side, an amulet in his hand to guard against deviltry on his last, long journey.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
Too familiar were they with Vienna's fantastic deviltries to ignore such a scent.
From Time Magazine Archive
Because it does not have to crowd the child's progressive deviltries into a few solid blocks of stage action, the film makes Emil a more thoroughly plausible character than he was in the play.
From Time Magazine Archive
Josh Clunk, London criminal lawyer, who chants revival hymns while plotting legal deviltries, saves a client and clears up, in his own oblique style, four mysterious deaths in a corrupt English seaside town.
From Time Magazine Archive
"No tricks, Tode," Jim warned him, "You've probably got a number of deviltries up your sleeve—" "One or two, Dent," grinned Tode.
From Astounding Stories of Super-Science, May, 1930 by Bates, Harry
It was either that he was blinded to the deviltries of his associates by his own high intentions, or as shrewdly dishonest as any scoundrel that ever rode the wilds.
From The Rustler of Wind River by Ogden, George W. (George Washington)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
