mischievous
Americanadjective
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maliciously or playfully annoying.
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causing annoyance, harm, or trouble.
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roguishly or slyly teasing, as a glance.
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harmful or injurious.
adjective
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inclined to acts of mischief
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teasing; slightly malicious
a mischievous grin
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causing or intended to cause harm
a mischievous plot
Pronunciation
The word mischievous has three syllables, mis-chie-vous, with the stress on the first syllable: . There is a common tendency to shift the stress to the second syllable and say or write the word as if there were an extra letter i after the v, turning it into a four-syllable word: . These alterations of the pronunciation (and sometimes even the spelling) may occur in part because in many English words ie is pronounced like ee, as in chief, in part because many words end with , spelled either -ious (as in devious ) or -eous (as in aqueous ), and in part because of confusion over where the second i in the word belongs. The Oxford English Dictionary reports that for some time in the evolution of the word—from about the sixteenth to the eighteenth century— mischievious was actually a fairly standard alternative spelling. Today, however, both the four-syllable spelling and the four-syllable pronunciation are generally regarded as nonstandard.
Other Word Forms
- mischievously adverb
- mischievousness noun
- nonmischievous adjective
- nonmischievously adverb
- nonmischievousness noun
- unmischievous adjective
- unmischievously adverb
Etymology
Origin of mischievous
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English mischevous, from Anglo-French meschevous; equivalent to mischief + -ous
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.
News of the death of Eric Dane was met with an outpouring of grief by celebrities, who expressed their deep admiration for his mischievous on-screen charisma and his advocacy efforts during his battle against ALS.
From Los Angeles Times
News of Eric Dane’s death Thursday was met with an outpouring of grief by celebrities, who expressed their admiration for the TV star’s mischievous on-screen charisma and his advocacy efforts during his battle against ALS.
From Los Angeles Times
"We can be naughty, we can be mischievous, we can be cheeky, we can have fun, we can have great banter too," he says.
From BBC
"This coin captures everything we love about him, that unmistakable mischievous grin, his furry pal Gnasher by his side and that irresistible spirit of rebellion that has made him a favourite across generations," she said.
From BBC
The architect’s mischievous side comes through in countless sketches for his famous gargoyles, which achieve “both anatomical coherence and a sense of demonic vitality.”
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.
