mischief

Meaning

Noun

1. (uncountable) Conduct that playfully causes petty annoyance.
2. (countable) A playfully annoying action.
3. (collective, countable, uncountable) A group or a pack of rats.
4. (archaic, uncountable) Harm or injury:
5. (archaic, countable) Harm or injury:
6. (countable, uncountable) A criminal offence defined in various ways in various jurisdictions, sometimes including causing damage to another's property.
7. (archaic, countable) A cause or agent of annoyance, harm or injury, especially a person who causes mischief.
8. (countable, euphemistic, uncountable) The Devil; used as an expletive.
9. (Australia, countable, uncountable) Casual and/or flirtatious sexual acts.

Verb

1. (obsolete, transitive) To do a mischief to; to harm.
2. (obsolete, transitive) To slander.

Synonyms

harm

evil

trick

prank

wickedness

practical joke

maleficence

injury

trouble

wrong

pranks

damage

roguery

devilment

hurt

naughtiness

mischief-making

urchin

shenanigan

tease

mischievousness

roguishness

playfulness

troublemaker

blunder

violence

vexation

evildoing

tumult

joke

🤣

evil deed

rascality

rage

😡

deviltry

devilry

balefulness

monkey business

detriment

outrage

malice

breakdown

impairment

misbehaviour

failure

teasing

error

cruelty

doubt

disturbance

conk

Translations

espièglerie

Unfug

travesura

Unheil

diablura

birichinata

danno

αταξία

Streich

Schaden

Schabernack

διαβολιά

sottise

Übel

Böse

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈmɪs.t͡ʃɪf/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: myschef

In summary

From Middle English myschef, meschef, meschief, mischef, from Old French meschief, from meschever (“to bring to grief”), from mes- (“badly”) + chever (“happen; come to a head”), from Vulgar Latin *capare, from Latin caput (“head”).