1
as in villains
a mean, evil, or unprincipled person
the city's run-down waterfront was occupied mostly by disreputable places frequented by drunkards and rapscallions
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in monkeys
an appealingly mischievous person
that little rapscallion kept hiding my shoes and making me go look for them
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Recent Examples of rapscallions
Imagine how Lowell’s most fun, most ferocious rock ‘n’ roll rapscallions will do Sabbath during their tribute set May 2 at the Smokehouse Tavern.
—
Jed Gottlieb, Boston Herald, 26 Apr. 2026
Twin brothers, these rapscallions can be told apart by Boris’s kinked tail and the colors of their collars.
—Literary Hub, 10 Apr. 2026
Jed Gottlieb, Boston Herald, 26 Apr. 2026
Twin brothers, these rapscallions can be told apart by Boris’s kinked tail and the colors of their collars.
—Literary Hub, 10 Apr. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for rapscallions
Noun
-
And, hey, the league is better when there are villains.—
Aaron Portzline,
New York Times,
5 June 2026
-
The festive, charming and energetic North American tour of the Broadway production is packed with as much nostalgia as new characters that are doppelgangers for the original series’ heroes and villains, and who often challenge our assumptions about their infamous families.—
John Wenzel,
Denver Post,
4 June 2026
Noun
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Madonna hunts pheasant in the English countryside, Thomas Edison electrocutes an elephant, Harry Harlow conducts callous experiments on monkeys, and Jimmy Carter fends off a swamp rabbit attack.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
9 June 2026
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Also known as snow monkeys, Japanese macaques, native to Japan, have a thick, lush fur coat that is adapted to cold climates, according to New England Primate Conservancy.—
Saman Shafiq,
USA Today,
8 June 2026
Noun
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That’s happened in several Mid Atlantic rivers, but in the absence of larger brutes like blues and flathead, channels will thrive and can break the 15-pound mark.—
Joe Cermele,
Outdoor Life,
9 Apr. 2026
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In Raspail’s tale, hordes of impoverished and dark-skinned brutes from India descend onto French shores by way of rafts, the first wave of an invasion of the civilized West by the brown-skinned developing world.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
8 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Angels and devils working together to stop Armageddon.—
Erik Kain,
Forbes.com,
15 May 2026
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Ash devils can hurl hot embers in all directions and spark new fires, but this one harmlessly dissipated without spreading the blaze further.—
Blanca Begert,
Los Angeles Times,
3 May 2026
Noun
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Russian athletes are routinely asked to answer for the actions of their government, yet athletes from other countries are rarely subjected to the same scrutiny or treated as though they are personally aligned with war criminals or dictators.—
Jon Root OutKick,
FOXNews.com,
7 June 2026
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Rafay Baloch, a cybersecurity expert and author of the book Web Hacking Arsenal, says that criminals specifically look for travelers who appear disoriented.—
Christopher Elliott,
Forbes.com,
6 June 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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Some offenders already are barred, including those convicted of first-degree murder of a law enforcement officer.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
8 June 2026
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Florida prosecutes children as adults for serious crimes and sends juvenile offenders to adult prisons at higher rates than any other state.—
Jay Blitzman,
The Conversation,
8 June 2026
Noun
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The Indians in Westerns had war paint and whooped like savages.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
28 May 2026
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Smoothbrain libs and savages can KMA.—
Joe Kinsey OutKick,
FOXNews.com,
18 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Rapscallions.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rapscallions. Accessed 11 Jun. 2026.
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