puckish
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of puckish
Explanation
Someone who's puckish is up to a little trouble. Your puckish friend might play practical jokes on you, but they're more silly than meanspirited. You can imagine a puckish person with a naughty twinkle in her eye. She might drive you crazy, but she also makes you laugh. This impish adjective dates from the 1860s, and we have Shakespeare to thank for it. It comes from Puck, the mischievous fairy-like creature from English folklore, made famous after being a character in Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream."
Vocabulary lists containing puckish
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
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This Week In Culture: April 12–18, 2020
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This Week In Culture: January 11–17, 2020
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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.
Puckish humor, high-culture references and interior artwork by Ashley Mackenzie and Virginia Allyn give excitement and heft to this jolly read for children ages 10 and older.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 12, 2025
Puckish, clad in a suit and preternaturally confident, a teenage Miller was a regular presence at school board meetings.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 9, 2025
Of course, Tucci has always been a Puckish figure in films generally, someone with a propensity for mischief.
From The Guardian • Apr. 30, 2020
By now we’re accustomed to this Puckish lad looking out at us with his can-you-believe-this gaze when his friends and family behave as stupidly as he predicted they would.
From New York Times • Jan. 23, 2018
I, a carefully trained gastronomist, adored it, but a Puckish digestion forbade my consuming one single shred of the ambrosial preparation.
From Jaffery by Locke, William John
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.
