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.
Impish and amused, he’s pretending to be perturbed, and the photographer is in on the joke.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 7, 2021
Impish and sometimes short-tempered, Mr. Mulvaney seemed to chafe at serving in the shadow of Mr. Gowdy and Mr. Scott, who are best friends and shining stars in their party and home state.
From New York Times • Dec. 17, 2016
Impish and informal, the wiry Mr. Hellman was something of a free spirit.
From New York Times • Dec. 19, 2011
Impish Barbarians offer tasty challenge to Johnson Someone within the 12-strong committee of the Barbarian Football Club certainly has a sense of humour.
From The Guardian • Apr. 19, 2010
And then I, in my Impish way, would offer to fight them too, resenting their scurril nicknames, and telling them that I had but one name, which was Jack Dangerous.
From The Strange Adventures of Captain Dangerous, Vol. 2 Who was a sailor, a soldier, a merchant, a spy, a slave among the moors... by Sala, George Augustus
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.
