misbehaving 1 of 2

adjective

as in naughty
engaging in or marked by childish misbehavior a new approach for disciplining a chronically misbehaving child

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misbehaving

2 of 2

verb

present participle of misbehave
as in disobeying
to behave badly scolded the children for misbehaving and sent them to bed early

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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 misbehaving
Adjective
Why must members of the public be disrespected by unruly, misbehaving, noisy children, who are then defended by adults who should know better? — Judith Martin, Mercury News, 1 Dec. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for misbehaving
  1. naughty
  2. disobeying
  3. mischievous
  4. rebelling
  5. bad
Adjective
  • When Martín is kidnapped by a monster, Cleo ventures into the jungle to rescue him, aided by an elderly witch and a naughty anteater.
    — Christopher Vourlias, Variety, 9 July 2026
  • People would hang from windows, encouraging you to do naughty things, and my thumb has never been sorer from back-and-forth gestures.
    — Matthew MacConnell, Forbes.com, 2 July 2026
Definition of naughty
Verb
  • Santana-Mateo was booked on charges of breach of peace, engaging police in a pursuit, disobeying the direction of officer, reckless driving, failure to obey a stop sign, failure to drive right, failure to obey a traffic control signal and driving the wrong way on a one way.
    — Staff Report, Hartford Courant, 17 June 2026
  • Icarus disobeying his father Daedalus and flying too close to the sun.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 26 May 2026
Definition of disobeying
Adjective
  • The former child star played mischievous middle child Randy Taylor on the Tim Allen sitcom.
    — Edward Segarra, USA Today, 30 July 2026
  • Catching mischievous agents in real time The Hugging Face incident reveals the importance of real-time monitoring.
    — Harry Booth, Time, 24 July 2026
Definition of mischievous
Verb
  • This story covers the rise of robots rebelling against their masters.
    — Ollie Barder, Forbes.com, 29 July 2026
  • The common narrative is fixated upon 1776, the 13 rebelling Colonies and the bold military actions of Founding Fathers such as George Washington.
    — Sarah M.S. Pearsall, The Conversation, 2 July 2026
Definition of rebelling
Adjective
  • The period of military rule has fared worse than previous civilian governments, analysts say, with armed groups increasing their footprint across the country and the Sahel.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 31 July 2026
  • At one point, King and backup center Nick Samac had a bad exchange on a shotgun snap.
    — Mike Kaye, Charlotte Observer, 31 July 2026
Definition of bad

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Cite this Entry

“Misbehaving.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/misbehaving. Accessed 7 Aug. 2026.

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More from Merriam-Webster on misbehaving

Nglish: Translation of misbehaving for Spanish Speakers

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