mischievous
adjective
Mischievous vs. Mischievious: Usage Guide
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.
Synonyms
Examples of mischievous in a Sentence
Matt Ridley, Genome, 1999
… Pedro Martinez, could be found in the dugout, usually wearing sneakers instead of spikes, his tongue flying about as fiercely as one of his mischievous fastballs.
—Tom Verducci, Sports Illustrated, 11 Oct. 1999
Setsu grew, too, from a mischievous, laughing little girl into a gay, willful, pretty girl.
—Pearl S. Buck, The Big Wave, 1947
the children had been so mischievous that we had to pay the babysitter extra and then clean up the mess
punished for their mischievous tricks on the neighbors
Julie Bourdin, The Christian Science Monitor, 10 June 2024
Blu: Young and mischievous Blu is a domestic shorthair male who is 8 years old.
—The Arizona Republic, 26 Apr. 2024
Her work is light and mischievous, if also, like the staging, short on grandeur.
—Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 17 Apr. 2024
While playful and childlike to some, the garish makeup, perpetual smiling, and mischievous behavior can also easily be associated with horror tropes.
—Ew Staff, EW.com, 24 May 2024
See all Example Sentences for mischievous 
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'mischievous.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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'Mispronunciations' That May Be Fine
'Mischievous,' 'nuclear,' and other words to pronounce with caution.
Dictionary Entries Near mischievous
Cite this Entry
“Mischievous.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mischievous. Accessed 27 Jun. 2024.
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mischievous
adjective
ˈmish-
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