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
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in to botch
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Example Sentences
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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
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The festival site, which Envision leases from its owners, is itself home to emerging mangrove forests, creeks, freshwater canals, a host of tree and plant species, birds, monkeys and other wildlife.—
Katie Bain,
Billboard,
10 Nov. 2025
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Broder worked for me the same way a zookeeper works for the monkeys.—
Cynthia Littleton,
Variety,
9 Nov. 2025
Noun
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This year’s furry green villain is more funny than scary, his behavior unthreatening, his confrontational manner with the Whos never feeling particularly dangerous.—
Rob Hubbard,
Twin Cities,
8 Nov. 2025
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The cast picture also included Brett Gelman, Priah Ferguson, Cara Buono, Amybeth McNulty and Jamie Campbell Bower, the latter who joined the cast in season 4 as the show's villain, Vecna.—
Kelsie Gibson,
PEOPLE,
8 Nov. 2025
Verb
-
Joe Biden’s seemed to end in August, 2021, when he was perceived as having botched the withdrawal from Afghanistan.—
Jon Allsop,
New Yorker,
11 Nov. 2025
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The team had botched an end-of-half sequence with McCarthy throwing the ball away for an incompletion, rather than taking the sack to run the clock.—
Alec Lewis,
New York Times,
10 Nov. 2025
Noun
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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
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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
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Among the colorful cast of rogues, villains, queens and clergymen, Andre The Giant stands out as the young suitor’s kind-hearted but stupid brute.—
Duane Byrge,
HollywoodReporter,
25 Sep. 2025
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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
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
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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
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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
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And Eli was, at times, a bit of a rascal.—
David Kamp,
New Yorker,
4 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Live Super Bowl odds NFC heavyweights Week 10’s action closed with the Philadelphia Eagles gutting out a defensive monster against the Green Bay Packers in Monday Night Football.—
Hannah Vanbiber,
New York Times,
11 Nov. 2025
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Personality goes a long way for the smiliest of all Frankenstein monsters.—
Brian Truitt,
USA Today,
11 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Scamp.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/scamp. Accessed 13 Nov. 2025.
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