1
as in monkey
an appealingly mischievous person
those little scamps are always getting into trouble, but no one has the heart to punish them
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in villain
a mean, evil, or unprincipled person
an insincere and ruthlessly ambitious scamp who was willing to do anything to win the reality show's grand prize
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in to botch
Related Words
Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of scamp
Nick Miller, The Athletic, 6 Jan. 2025
The suave scamp buoys a ship taking on water, and the second and third episodes (of the eight-episode first season) pick up speed as their imagination balloons (thanks, in part, to director David Lowery).
—Ben Travers, IndieWire, 2 Dec. 2024
Elle Carroll, Vulture, 6 Dec. 2021
Sunshine scamps: The Florida Project is a delighful, poignant, dark-and-light movie about kids living on the seedy side of Disney.
—Rebecca Onion, Slate Magazine, 6 Oct. 2017
See All Example Sentences for scamp
Noun
There was a brief flurry of excitement this week when Coritiba, a club in the Brazilian second division, announced that Neymar would be signing for them, but that turned out to be the result of some mischievous scamps who hacked their website.
—Nick Miller, The Athletic, 6 Jan. 2025
The suave scamp buoys a ship taking on water, and the second and third episodes (of the eight-episode first season) pick up speed as their imagination balloons (thanks, in part, to director David Lowery).
—Ben Travers, IndieWire, 2 Dec. 2024
Verb
While its individual characters feel largely interchangeable, the movie hums with life and pleasure when Borowczyk lets his nuns twirl around the chapel in a painterly tableau and scamp through the convent.
—Elle Carroll, Vulture, 6 Dec. 2021
Sunshine scamps: The Florida Project is a delighful, poignant, dark-and-light movie about kids living on the seedy side of Disney.
—Rebecca Onion, Slate Magazine, 6 Oct. 2017
See All Example Sentences for scamp
Recent Examples of Synonyms for scamp
Noun
-
His face, while not exactly handsome, nevertheless has a certain charisma to it, a monkey-like instinct for comedy.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
4 Nov. 2025
-
Jasper County Sheriff Randy Johnson said initial reports from the truck's occupants warned that the monkeys were dangerous and potentially carried diseases.—
Stephen Sorace,
FOXNews.com,
3 Nov. 2025
Noun
-
Yet if the Dodgers are to be cast as villains from the Book of Samuel, Toronto brought to the fight far more than pebbles.—
Andy McCullough,
New York Times,
25 Oct. 2025
-
The family moved to Hollywood 10 years later, and Gene Lockhart worked steadily as a character actor, usually in avuncular roles, sometimes as a villain.—
NPR,
NPR,
25 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
Meanwhile, the show has hosted plenty of controversial musical performances, such as NBC removing upside-down American flags from Rage Against the Machine’s amps in 1996 to Ashlee Simpson’s botched vocal performance in 2004.—
William Earl,
Variety,
19 Oct. 2025
-
Made all the worse, that final play by Miami was botched by a mistake that led to the pickoff.—
Miami Herald,
Miami Herald,
18 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
Its depictions of dancing devils and witches’ sabbaths are supposed to scare viewers straight, but writer-director Benjamin Christensen is also sympathetic towards the plight of medieval women persecuted for witchcraft.—
Katie Rife,
Entertainment Weekly,
30 Oct. 2025
-
The anime series follows a young man who can demolish fellow devils via a pullstring in his chest that transforms parts of his body into chainsaws.—
Jack Smart,
PEOPLE,
23 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
An extermination of the brutes in the Middle East, presided over by Obama’s successors, has been followed by a swift cancellation by Trumpian decree of the postracial age.—
Pankaj Mishra,
Harpers Magazine,
19 Sep. 2025
-
Each fits into typical RPG classes — with Armon being the close combat brute, Harlow the magical crowd control specialist, Rafa the agile rogue, and Vex serving as a summoner who calls on minions to do the dirty work.—
George Yang,
Rolling Stone,
11 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
The Chiefs bungled it in more ways than one, more than that fourth-down call, even if the most glaring is the decision to settle for three.—
Sam McDowell
November 4,
Kansas City Star,
4 Nov. 2025
-
Gentleman thief Sir Charles Lytton (David Niven) circles the prize while Inspector Jacques Clouseau (Peter Sellers) bungles the pursuit with sublime obliviousness.—
Lilah Ramzi,
Vogue,
25 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
The hilarious hijinks that ensue are centered on a rugby-playing rascal whose initial interests in pulling chicks and working get-rich-quick schemes give way to a lifelong love of writing poetry in the post-Soviet-occupation era of the 1990s.—
Courtney Howard,
Variety,
30 Oct. 2025
-
And Eli was, at times, a bit of a rascal.—
David Kamp,
New Yorker,
4 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
Geryon who is metaphorically and perhaps in reality a monster is infatuated with Herakles, but the internal world of Geryon is so thoroughly inspected.—
Amber McBride,
Literary Hub,
5 Nov. 2025
-
Mundane loot like monster teeth and eyeballs all have different effects when paired with a basic attack, making for a mind-boggling number of combinations for how to dole out punishment.—
Christopher Cruz,
Rolling Stone,
4 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Scamp.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/scamp. Accessed 6 Nov. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share