mischievous

[mis-chuh-vuhs]

adjective

1. maliciously or playfully annoying.

2. causing annoyance, harm, or trouble.

3. roguishly or slyly teasing, as a glance.

4. harmful or injurious.

mischievous

/ ˈmɪstʃɪvəs /

adjective

1. inclined to acts of mischief

2. teasing; slightly malicious

   a mischievous grin

3. causing or intended to cause harm

   a mischievous plot

Pronunciation Note

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of mischievous¹

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English mischevous, from Anglo-French meschevous; equivalent to mischief + -ous

Example Sentences

The pair soon find themselves uncovering a mischievous mystery with the help of Mr Tickle and his extraordinarily long arms.

Read more on BBC

There’s a pecorino plum crumble, for instance, and a gouda apple galette, combinations that sound mischievous until you taste how naturally they click.

Read more on Salon

The Queen has shared a wistful but mischievous memory of her longstanding friend Dame Jilly Cooper, as she spoke at a book festival six days after the author's death at the age of 88.

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Many of the portrayals are mischievous and amusing.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

He would look at me, and I would be so taken by his fun, mischievous, unpredictability.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• impish 
• malicious 
• naughty 
• playful 
• rude 
• sly