Text: 1 playful, reckless behavior that is not intended to cause serious harm<the children claimed that setting off a firecracker was harmless mischief, but they got a lecture anyway>Synonymsdevilishness, devilment, devilry (or deviltry), hob, impishness, knavery, mischievousness, rascality, roguishness, shenanigans, waggery, wickednessRelated Wordsdiabolicalness, naughtiness; friskiness, playfulness, sportiveness; chicanery, hanky-panky, trickery; high jinks, monkeyshines, skylarking, tomfoolery; antic, caper, practical joke; aggravation, annoyance, exasperation, irritationNear Antonymsgravity, seriousness, solemnity 2 a natural disposition for playful behavior<your mother was full of mischief as a child, believe it or not>— see playfulness 3 an appealingly mischievous person<he's a little mischief who means no harm>— see scamp 1

Learn more about "mischief" and related topics at Britannica.com

See a map of "mischief" in the Visual Thesaurus