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
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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
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Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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Recent Examples of scamp
Kelly Lawler, USA Today, 6 Aug. 2025
Krypto is, above all, a little scamp, a characterization that Gunn leans on as Krypto playfully roughhouses with Supes in his new film.
—Daniel Dockery, Vulture, 11 July 2025
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
Season 2 brings viewers back to Nevermore Academy, the gothic high school for supernatural scamps that Wednesday enrolled in last time around, and subsequently helped save from Season 1 villains Tyler (Hunter Doohan) and Marilyn Thornhill (Christina Ricci, a one-time Wednesday herself).
—Kelly Lawler, USA Today, 6 Aug. 2025
Krypto is, above all, a little scamp, a characterization that Gunn leans on as Krypto playfully roughhouses with Supes in his new film.
—Daniel Dockery, Vulture, 11 July 2025
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
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Beyond the romance, the resort delivers unforgettable experiences like horseback riding along the beach, bird and monkey nature tours, surf lessons, sandboarding, and a hands-on ceramics class.—
Sandy Pierre,
Refinery29,
29 Jan. 2026
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Sometimes they’re even seen walking among the ruins of the imposing 10th-century Ranthambore Fort, a hikeable hilltop fortress in the park’s center brimming with langur monkeys.—
Laura Kiniry,
Condé Nast Traveler,
28 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Picking winners and losers, heroes and villains, pathways to success and failure, generates excitement for an event and manufactures a sense of urgency for maximal viewing pleasure.—
Brady Brickner-Wood,
New Yorker,
28 Jan. 2026
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What the late Ka did to build resolve against the unforgiving brutalities of Brownsville, Marci combines with the flair of a Bond villain and contempt for anyone attempting to copy his mold.—
Dylan Green,
Pitchfork,
28 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Officials have renewed their search for an inspector general candidate after the city botched the process last year.—
Devyani Chhetri,
Dallas Morning News,
26 Jan. 2026
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Since the company first started lifting the satellites to space in 2019, streaks of light have botched countless observations.—
Chris Young,
Interesting Engineering,
26 Jan. 2026
Noun
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His characters make cavalier deals with the proverbial devil, even as the costs become harder to ignore.—
Virgie Tovar,
Forbes.com,
23 Jan. 2026
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There are sounds and shadows in the forest; the Devil, or devils, may be walking the earth.—
Joshua Rothman,
New Yorker,
23 Jan. 2026
Noun
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For much of his career, Skarsgård has gravitated toward characters who weaponize physical presence — Vikings, tech titans and mythic brutes whose power is immediately legible.—
Clayton Davis,
Variety,
9 Jan. 2026
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As usual, Lang plays the brute’s Heart of Darkness–esque descent into madness with gleeful relish.—
David Sims,
The Atlantic,
19 Dec. 2025
Verb
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With an 11-0 start for the first time since the 1990s, the Aggies bungled the last two games of the season losing to Texas in Rivalry Week and Miami in the first round of the College Football Playoffs.—
Zoe Collins Rath,
Austin American Statesman,
22 Jan. 2026
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And the quarterback position heading into the 2025 campaign was bungled, particularly considering the 14-win season Minnesota experienced in 2024 and the quality of the roster outside of the most important position this fall.—
Jace Frederick,
Twin Cities,
17 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Of all the former rascals, Symoné has enjoyed the longest and most successful career in entertainment.—
Andrew Walsh,
Entertainment Weekly,
30 Jan. 2026
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In the years since 2004’s Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, Penn’s carved out a niche embodying big-talking, attention-grabbing rascals who say inappropriate things, then shrug their way through the consequences.—
Roxana Hadadi,
Vulture,
12 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Catrina Bell loves to write sweetie pie monsters who bring the heat.—
Meg Miller,
Austin American Statesman,
31 Jan. 2026
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Essie Davis plays Amelia, who struggles to raise her 6-year-old son, Sam (Noah Wiseman), as he's tormented by the titular humanoid storybook monster.—
Kevin Jacobsen,
Entertainment Weekly,
31 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Scamp.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/scamp. Accessed 2 Feb. 2026.
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