rapscallions

noun

plural of rapscallion
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

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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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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 rapscallions Those rapscallions that promise good fortunes but never produce. — Bill Reinhard, New York Daily News, 16 Aug. 2026 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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for rapscallions
  1. villains
  2. monkeys
  3. brutes
  4. devils
  5. criminals
  6. rascals
  7. offenders
  8. savages
Noun
  • The station is soon invaded by out-of-time baseball stars, fairytale villains, and unseasonal snow, all created by aliens eager to understand the concept of imagination.
    — Richard Edwards, Space.com, 10 Oct. 2026
  • The zombie is one of the most elastic and grotesque villains in the genre, shifting dramatically from early-Hollywood films built on racial stereotypes to the now-popular vision of a monster that yearns to devour those still living.
    — Angelica Jade Bastién, Vulture, 8 Oct. 2026
Definition of villains
Noun
  • Here, in the heart of an expansive park filled with birds and monkeys, is a refuge from the frenzy of this teeming metropolis.
    — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 6 Oct. 2026
  • Long-range inhibitory neurons marked by the activity of these genes have been known for some time, based on studies in monkeys, but researchers couldn’t figure out how to manipulate them using these genes.
    — Jacek Krywko, ArsTechnica, 18 Sep. 2026
Definition of monkeys
Noun
  • These brutes commonly exceed 50 pounds.
    — Keith Sutton, Outdoor Life, 18 June 2026
  • 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
Definition of brutes
Noun
  • Researchers have also documented the phenomenon in dogs, Tasmanian devils, and some kinds of clams and other shellfish.
    — Adam Cohen, Oklahoman, 18 Aug. 2026
  • In 2025, two Tasmanian devils arrived at the Australian Outback exhibit.
    — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 29 July 2026
Definition of devils
Noun
  • That is what makes seemingly basic personal information so useful to criminals.
    — Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 10 Oct. 2026
  • Pillay, 85, received the news while attending a forum in Nuremberg, Germany, where the trials of Nazi war criminals helped lay the foundations of international law.
    — Stefanie Dazio, Los Angeles Times, 9 Oct. 2026
Definition of criminals
Noun
  • Of all the former rascals, Symoné has enjoyed the longest and most successful career in entertainment.
    — Andrew Walsh, Entertainment Weekly, 30 Jan. 2026
  • 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
Definition of rascals
Noun
  • Sincere Lanier, 22, is one of several offenders who allegedly stole from machines at Stella’s Place March 24 and Avenue Flower Shop and Wine Bar March 29, Oak Lawn police say.
    — Olivia Stevens, Chicago Tribune, 8 Oct. 2026
  • Too often, special occasions can feel like an excuse to buy a new outfit; weddings are the worst offenders.
    — Corinne Pierre-Louis, Vogue, 7 Oct. 2026
Definition of offenders
Noun
  • And potentially discover treasure that will keep the savages at home from tearing the place down.
    — Barry Collins, Forbes.com, 28 July 2026
  • Or a group of shipwrecked boys turning into savages and killing one another?
    — Glenn Whipp, Los Angeles Times, 8 June 2026
Definition of savages

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Cite this Entry

“Rapscallions.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rapscallions. Accessed 15 Oct. 2026.

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