impish
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of impish
Explanation
If you know someone who's playful and mischievous, you can describe them as impish. Your impish little brother probably gets away with all kinds of pranks because he's so cute. If you're impish, you might play practical jokes on people, tease them, tickle them, or be otherwise cheerfully annoying. The troublemaker in a kindergarten class is likely to be fairly impish, naughty and a little silly. The adjective impish comes from imp, a mythological creature that's similar to a fairy but known in folklore for its jokes and pranks.
Vocabulary lists containing impish
Stargirl
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A Thousand Splendid Suns
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The Color Purple
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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.
These alternately grave and impish modes recur throughout the show, aptly subtitled “Serious Play,” often combining in a single image.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 12, 2025
But the Rodgers and Hammerstein works stirred the soul in a way the more impish Rodgers and Hart shows couldn’t, and they remain cornerstones of the musical theater.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 16, 2025
Manuel chips in enthusiastically with an impish grin, saying that the new systems that he too firmly believes will emerge will be the "next stage in humanity's evolution".
From BBC • May 25, 2025
With one foot in either place, we’re pulled between the impish naivete of childhood — when the future seemed vast and bright — and the doldrums of adulthood.
From Salon • Apr. 3, 2025
“You remember that. Unless, of course”—here she flashed an impish grin and nudged Laila with an elbow—“it’s your young, handsome, one-legged prince who comes knocking. Then ...” Laila slapped the elbow away.
From "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini
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.
