puckish

adjective

ˈpə-kish How to pronounce puckish (audio)
Definition of puckishnext
as in mischievous
tending to or exhibiting reckless playfulness he takes a puckish delight in teasing her about her love life, or lack thereof

Synonyms & Similar Words

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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 puckish Throughout it all, he's maintained a puckish, playful approach. — Randall Colburn, Entertainment Weekly, 8 Feb. 2026 Her politics grew out of puckish sass—a need to trouble the authority of her conservative parents—as much as out of an essential righteousness. — Literary Hub, 4 Dec. 2025 And chuckled with Spicy, Austin’s own puckish cartoonist. — Steve Sewall, Chicago Tribune, 18 Aug. 2025 Like End of the Century, Castro’s latest is both sexy and surprisingly cosmic, but this time with a casual, puckish charm. — Christian Zilko, IndieWire, 7 Aug. 2025 See All Example Sentences for puckish
Recent Examples of Synonyms for puckish
  1. mischievous
  2. wicked
  3. playful
  4. impish
  5. prankish
Adjective
  • Paramount Great Again hat, but didn’t expect the mischievous executive to turn up in Edinburgh wearing the headgear.
    — Jesse Whittock, Deadline, 28 Aug. 2026
  • Reports from across the UK show the mischievous character lurking outside windows and startling passersby.
    — Gina Park, CNN Money, 27 Aug. 2026
Definition of mischievous
Adjective
  • But Chelsea never wilted, never stopped pushing and probing for an equaliser, and almost found one in the final minutes when substitute Estevao’s wicked curler brought a world-class save out of Raya.
    — Liam Twomey, New York Times, 7 Sep. 2026
  • More than most pictures about crooks and the men who chase them, Melville’s movie gets into the heads of its characters and the heart of their wicked deeds with surgical precision.
    — Declan Gallagher, Entertainment Weekly, 3 Sep. 2026
Definition of wicked
Adjective
  • Eisenberg’s playful comedy, which just premiered at the Telluride Film Festival, is sometimes a musical and occasionally a thriller.
    — Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 6 Sep. 2026
  • At a gathering with other artists, a seemingly playful party game culminates in an excruciating monologue about child abuse.
    — Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 5 Sep. 2026
Definition of playful
Adjective
  • In a sprightly performance rife with oddball mannerisms, Gnecco gives Borges equal parts impish wisdom, earthy vulgarity and childlike wonder, rarely letting a moment’s silence go unfilled with eager chatter.
    — Guy Lodge, Variety, 29 Aug. 2026
  • Ahead of the comedy’s second season, FX brought on Danny DeVito to play Dennis and Dee’s impish, absentee businessman father, Frank, in hopes that his presence would bring in more viewers.
    — Paula Mejía, New Yorker, 17 Aug. 2026
Definition of impish
Adjective
  • The catastrophies that our heroine averts are awfully small potatoes — a bulldozer running amok, an amusement park ride speeding out of control, some prankish teenagers scheming to turn the girl’s shower into a steambath.
    — Arthur Knight, HollywoodReporter, 25 June 2026
  • Angela Balogh Calin’s costumes prepare the way for Ionesco’s prankish jokes.
    — Theater Critic, Los Angeles Times, 13 May 2026
Definition of prankish

Browse Nearby Words

puckery
puckish
pucks
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Cite this Entry

“Puckish.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/puckish. Accessed 13 Sep. 2026.

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