mischief
from
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)
mischief
n 1: reckless or malicious behavior that causes discomfort or
annoyance in others [syn: {mischief}, {mischief-making},
{mischievousness}, {deviltry}, {devilry}, {devilment},
{rascality}, {roguery}, {roguishness}, {shenanigan}]
2: the quality or nature of being harmful or evil [syn:
{maleficence}, {mischief}, {balefulness}] [ant:
{beneficence}]
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Mischief \Mis"chief\ (m[i^]s"ch[i^]f), n. [OE. meschef bad
result, OF. meschief; pref. mes- (L. minus less) + chief end,
head, F. chef chief. See {Minus}, and {Chief}.]
[1913 Webster]
1. Harm; damage; esp., disarrangement of order; trouble or
vexation caused by human agency or by some living being,
intentionally or not; often, calamity, mishap; trivial
evil caused by thoughtlessness, or in sport. --Chaucer.
[1913 Webster]
Thy tongue deviseth mischiefs. --Ps. lii. 2.
[1913 Webster]
The practice whereof shall, I hope, secure me from
many mischiefs. --Fuller.
[1913 Webster]
2. Cause of trouble or vexation; trouble. --Milton.
[1913 Webster]
The mischief was, these allies would never allow
that the common enemy was subdued. --Swift.
[1913 Webster]
{To be in mischief}, to be doing harm or causing annoyance.
{To make mischief}, to do mischief, especially by exciting
quarrels.
{To play the mischief}, to cause great harm; to throw into
confusion. [Colloq.]
[1913 Webster]
Syn: Damage; harm; hurt; injury; detriment; evil; ill.
Usage: {Mischief}, {Damage}, {Harm}. Damage is an injury
which diminishes the value of a thing; harm is an
injury which causes trouble or inconvenience; mischief
is an injury which disturbs the order and consistency
of things. We often suffer damage or harm from
accident, but mischief always springs from perversity
or folly.
[1913 Webster]
from
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
167 Moby Thesaurus words for "mischief":
Discordia, Eris, abomination, atrocity, bad, bad boy, badness,
bane, bankruptcy, befoulment, blight, booger, breakage, breakdown,
buffoon, bugger, clash, clashing, collapse, conflict, contention,
corruption, crack-up, crippling, crying evil, cutup, damage,
defilement, despoliation, destruction, detriment, devil,
devilishness, devilment, devilry, deviltry, diablerie, difference,
difficulty, dilapidation, disablement, disaccord, disadvantage,
disaffinity, discord, discordance, discordancy, disharmony,
disrepair, disruption, dissension, dissent, division, drawback,
elf, elfishness, encroachment, enfant terrible, enmity, evil,
foolishness, friction, funmaker, grievance, handicap, hardship,
harm, havoc, high spirits, hobbling, hood, hoodlum, hooligan, hurt,
hurting, ill, imp, impairment, impishness, incapacitation,
incompatibility, incompatibleness, infection, infringement,
inharmoniousness, inharmony, injury, inroad, jangle, jar, joker,
jokester, knave, liability, limb, little devil, little monkey,
little rascal, loss, loss of ground, maiming, mayhem, minx,
misbehavior, mischief-maker, mischievousness, misfortune,
monkey business, monkeyshines, mutilation, naughtiness,
noncooperation, open conflict, outrage, pixie, playfulness, poison,
pollution, practical joker, prankishness, pranksomeness, prankster,
prejudice, puck, puckishness, rapscallion, rascal, rascality,
rogue, roguery, roguishness, rowdy, rub, ruffian, ruin, ruination,
ruinousness, sabotage, scalawag, scamp, scampishness, scapegrace,
scathe, shenanigans, sickening, spoiling, sportiveness,
step backward, strained relations, strife, tension, the worst,
toxin, trouble, unharmoniousness, unpleasantness, variance, venom,
vexation, villain, wag, waggery, waggishness, weakening, woe,
wrong, youthful spirits
[email protected]