mischievous

mischievous
adjective Date: 14th century 1. harmful, injurious <
mischievous gossip
>
2. a. able or tending to cause annoyance, trouble, or minor injury b. irresponsibly playful <
mischievous behavior
>
mischievously adverbmischievousness noun Usage: A pronunciation \mis-ˈchē-vē-əs\ and a consequent spelling mischievious are of long standing: evidence for the spelling goes back to the 16th century. Our pronunciation files contain modern attestations ranging from dialect speakers to Herbert Hoover. But both the pronunciation and the spelling are still considered nonstandard.

New Collegiate Dictionary. 2001.

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  • 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

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