roguish
Americanadjective
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playfully mischievous.
a roguish smile.
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pertaining to, characteristic of, or acting like a rogue; knavish or unscrupulous.
adjective
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dishonest or unprincipled
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mischievous or arch
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of roguish
Explanation
To be roguish is to be up to no good, which could mean being untrustworthy like a criminal or playful and mischievous. If someone gives you a roguish smile, he’s totally flirting with you. You can't trust someone who acts roguish in the bad way, like the roguish crook who picks your pocket while telling you how lovely you look. On the other hand, you might like someone who acts roguish in the second sense, which means playfully mischievous. Being roguish in this way might mean playing pranks, telling racy jokes, and being a little wild. Roguish behavior like this can still be annoying, like if your roguish roommate at camp short-sheets your bed.
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.
Roguish fortune-hunter Nathan Drake returned for his fourth adventure this year, setting out to discover the lost treasure of pirate captain Henry Avery – while also saving his troubled marriage to fellow adventurer, Elena.
From The Guardian • Dec. 29, 2016
Roguish laughter, a cynic's sneer, tears of compassion, and a lacerated concern with the spectacle of man selling his fellow man keep exciting, if contradictory, company in the works of this remarkable playwright.
From Time Magazine Archive
Gerald Carson is quite capable of organizing a text, as he demonstrated in The Roguish World of Doctor Brinkley, the goat-glands man, The Social History of Bourbon and The Old Country Store.
From Time Magazine Archive
Last week at Arlington Park a Coughlin-owned filly named Roguish Girl won a race.
From Time Magazine Archive
“I say, Tom, don’t you think that there is a chance of her making sail, and leaving us here?” observed one of them to the old pirate Tom Roguish.
From A Voyage round the World A book for boys by Kingston, William Henry Giles
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.
