mischievous
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
English[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
- mischievious, mischevious (nonstandard forms)
Etymology[edit]
From Middle English myschevous, mischevous, from Anglo-Norman meschevous, from Old French meschever, from mes- (“mis-”) + chever (“come to an end”) (from chef (“head”)). By surface analysis, mischief + -ous.
Pronunciation[edit]
- IPA(key): /ˈmɪs.t͡ʃɪ.vəs/, /ˈmɪs.t͡ʃə.vəs/
Audio (US) (file) - (nonstandard) /mɪs.ˈt͡ʃiː.vi.əs/ (often along with the nonstandard spellings mischievious and/or mischevious)
- (dated) /mɪs.ˈt͡ʃiː.vəs/
Adjective[edit]
mischievous (comparative more mischievous, superlative most mischievous)
- Causing mischief; injurious.
- 1793, Joseph Butler, The Analogy of Religion:
- ...; that good and bad actions at present are naturally rewarded and punished, not only as beneficial and mischievous to society, but also as virtuous and civious; ...
- 1892, Henry Sidgwick, Outlines of the History of Ethics:
- On the whole, therefore, he concludes that the point of indulgence at which these self-passions or self-affections begin to be mischievous to the individual coincides with that at which they begin to be mischievous to society; ...
- Troublesome, cheeky, badly behaved.
- Matthew had a twin brother called Edward, who was always mischievous and badly behaved.
Usage notes[edit]
The spelling "misch(i)evious" and similar ones can be found since the 16th century, so the corresponding pronunciation is at least as old. But despite being common in a wide range of social classes today, these spellings and the corresponding pronunciation are still considered nonstandard and often viewed as incorrect.
Synonyms[edit]
- (causing mischief): harmful, hurtful, detrimental, noxious, pernicious, destructive; see also Thesaurus:harmful
- (badly-behaved): badly-behaved, naughty
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
causing mischief
|
naughty
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
|
Further reading[edit]
- “mischievous”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “mischievous”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
- “mischievous”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
Anagrams[edit]
Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Anglo-Norman
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms suffixed with -ous
- English 3-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English lemmas
- English adjectives
- English terms with quotations
- en:Personality