scamp
Americannoun
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an unscrupulous and often mischievous person; rascal; rogue; scalawag.
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a playful, mischievous, or naughty young person; upstart.
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a grouper, Mycteroperca phenax, of Florida: so called from its habit of stealing bait.
verb (used with object)
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scamps,
present (3rd person singular)
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scamped,
past participle, past
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scamping
present participle
noun
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an idle mischievous person; rascal
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a mischievous child
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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scampernoun
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scampishnessnoun
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scampishadjective
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unscampedadjective
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scampinglyadverb
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scampishlyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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scampsimple
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scampssimple
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have scampedperfect
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has scampedperfect
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am scampingprogressive
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are scampingprogressive
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is scampingprogressive
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have been scampingperfect progressive
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has been scampingperfect progressive
Past
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scampedsimple
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had scampedperfect
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was scampingprogressive
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were scampingprogressive
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had been scampingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of scamp
1775–85; obsolete scamp to travel about idly or for mischief, perhaps < obsolete Dutch schampen to be gone < Old French escamper to decamp
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.
See Examples For:
Without pressing the matter, the script by Mr. Johnson, Todd Bartels, Lou Howe and Matthew Miller illustrates how vital it is for a young scamp to get corrected by tough, pitiless direction.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
He’s a master of both Andersonian acting styles: the freewheeling scamp and the scoundrel who speaks with a sniper’s precision.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 10, 2026
Marlon might be the biggest scamp we’ve seen on this show since, well … Big?
From New York Times ● Jul. 6, 2023
And I was exasperated when my firstborn started imitating the antics of that naughty scamp, particularly by upending her plate at the table.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 16, 2022
Nor would she see Simon, or Miss Mortimer or Mrs. Clarke, or even that dear scamp Nutsawoo!
From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood
From their ranks, we’ve chosen the 101 L.A.-set movies that best represent this city and its inhabitants: actors, scamps, cops, crooks, singers, strivers, slackers and even cyborgs.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 15, 2026
Saturday was a night of four headliners at Glastonbury, with fans facing the cruel choice between pop queen Charli XCX, rock legend Neil Young, disco scamps Scissor Sisters and Doechii - rap's hottest new voice.
From BBC ● Jun. 28, 2025
Nearly as ripe for the Broadway-musical treatment are the loveable scamps who ran heavily indebted cities in the 19th century.
From Slate ● Jun. 5, 2023
Having appeared in four movies, numerous short films and a Universal Studios ride, among myriad other media, the subservient scamps return to playing second fiddle in “The Rise of Gru.”
From Washington Post ● Jun. 28, 2022
Dwight, the festive, Larkins and the two city scamps, were sentenced for lesser periods, but none escaped lightly.
From Out of a Labyrinth by Lawrence L. Lynch
Germany has scamped its obligations in almost exactly the degree that his hand has faltered.
From Time Magazine Archive
As for last year's veiling ceremonies at Khartoum, the Sudanese for whom he had founded a school may have scamped the job.
From Time Magazine Archive
Book reviews miss the irascible authority of Edmund Wilson, though on occasion the scamped book section is rescued by John Updike or V.S.
From Time Magazine Archive
In jumping over a low fence into a lane his one foot came down sideways on a large stone upon which some pauper had scamped his work, and the mischief was done.
From The King's Stratagem and Other Stories by Stanley John Weyman
The two lower classes scamped their gymnasium work to make it a success.
From Ruth Fielding At College or The Missing Examination Papers by Alice B. Emerson
And there is no scamping of the invisible details.
From Time Magazine Archive
While scamping his studies as an undergraduate at the University of Virginia, he came down with rheumatic fever, which left him with a bad heart.
From Time Magazine Archive
But he has played up trivialities while scamping essentials: Becket's great career as Chancellor is passed over; his clashes with Henry, on becoming Archbishop of Canterbury, go unused.
From Time Magazine Archive
He looked upon such arrangements as degrading and infamous, and considered that they meant nothing less than an inducement to "scamping," which he would never tolerate.
From The Life of Thomas Telford; civil engineer with an introductory history of roads and travelling in Great Britain by Samuel Smiles
He had hurried back to lunch, scamping it so that he might get to his piano for an hour of forgetfulness.
From Saint's Progress by John Galsworthy
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.
