mischievous

Mischievous — Mis chie*vous (m[i^]s ch[ e]*v[u^]s), a. Causing mischief; harmful; hurtful; now often applied where the evil is done carelessly or in sport; as, a mischievous child. Most mischievous foul sin. Shak. [1913 Webster] This false, wily, doubling… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

mischievous — index harmful, malevolent, malicious, noxious, peccant (culpable), pernicious, sinister, vicious …   Law dictionary

mischievous — (adj.) early 14c., unfortunate, disastrous, probably from MISCHIEF (Cf. mischief) + OUS (Cf. ous). Sense of playfully malicious or annoying first recorded 1670s. Related: Mischievously; mischievousness …   Etymology dictionary

mischievous — roguish, waggish, impish, *playful, frolicsome, sportive Analogous words: annoying, bothering or bothersome, vexing or vexatious, irking or irksome (see corresponding verbs at ANNOY): naughty, *bad, evil, ill, wicked: tricky, foxy, insidious,… …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

mischievous — The erroneous pronunciation and spelling of this word as mischievious (four syllables) is one of the most commonly cited indications of poor use of language, and should be avoided …   Modern English usage

mischievous — [adj] devilish, wicked arch, artful, bad, bothersome, damaging, dangerous, deleterious, destructive, detrimental, dickens*, evil, exasperating, foxy*, frolicsome, harmful, hazardous, holy terror*, hurtful, ill, ill behaved, impish, injurious,… …   New thesaurus

mischievous — ► ADJECTIVE 1) causing or disposed to mischief. 2) intended to cause trouble. DERIVATIVES mischievously adverb mischievousness noun …   English terms dictionary

mischievous — [mis′chə vəs] adj. [ME mischevous < Anglo Fr] 1. causing mischief; specif., a) injurious; harmful b) prankish; teasing; full of tricks 2. inclined to annoy or vex with playful tricks; naughty: said esp. of a child mischievously adv.… …   English World dictionary

mischievous — mis|chie|vous [ˈmıstʃıvəs] adj 1.) someone who is mischievous likes to have fun, especially by playing tricks on people or doing things to annoy or embarrass them ▪ Their sons are noisy and mischievous. mischievous smile/look etc ▪ Gabby looked… …   Dictionary of contemporary English

mischievous — mis|chie|vous [ mıstʃıvəs ] adjective a mischievous person, especially a child, enjoys having fun by causing trouble: There were always mischievous boys around. a. a mischievous look or expression shows that you enjoy having fun by causing… …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

mischievous — [[t]mɪ̱stʃɪvəs[/t]] 1) ADJ GRADED A mischievous person likes to have fun by playing harmless tricks on people or doing things they are not supposed to do. She rocks back and forth on her chair like a mischievous child... He s a little mischievous …   English dictionary