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
-
The ones to watch out for are the ones who should be villains that aren’t.—
Bethy Squires,
Vulture,
4 May 2026
-
The iconic heroes and villains will join familiar faces already found throughout the outpost, including Ahsoka Tano, the Mandalorian, Grogu, R2-D2, Rey and more.—
Colson Thayer,
PEOPLE,
29 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
In the sketch, Sherman wore oversized fake teeth and mocked Wood’s Manchester accent in a line about removing fluoride from water and eating monkeys.—
Larisha Paul,
Rolling Stone,
29 Apr. 2026
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Even the photos of giraffes, monkeys, lions, hyenas and rhinos hanging on the walls of the classrooms were selected intentionally — and add a personal touch to the space for Scheible.—
Jenna Ebbers,
Kansas City Star,
29 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
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
-
Other propaganda compared Native people to buffalo, cats, dogs, and devils.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
13 Mar. 2026
-
There are sounds and shadows in the forest; the Devil, or devils, may be walking the earth.—
Joshua Rothman,
New Yorker,
23 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Lamont and other Democrats said the raises were well deserved because the state needs to recruit workers for difficult jobs that include prison guards dealing with dangerous criminals and social workers dealing with troubled families in the state Department of Children and Families.—
Christopher Keating,
Hartford Courant,
2 May 2026
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And too often, these criminals stay one step ahead of law enforcement.—
Chris Spear,
New York Daily News,
30 Apr. 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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Tens of thousands of offenders are released each year while their cases proceed in the court system, and hundreds are placed in the court’s GPS program (the sheriff’s electronic monitoring program is not accepting new participants).—
Silvana Tabares,
Chicago Tribune,
4 May 2026
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However, the balance of these facilities could be correctional facilities for the worst offenders of the public trust with respect to fraud and corruption.—
Kaitlyn Schallhorn,
Oc Register,
4 May 2026
Noun
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This notion was based on outdated presumptions of hillforts as being occupied by violent, prehistoric savages.—
News Desk,
Artforum,
10 Apr. 2026
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Or Irish, in a time when they were seen as savages by the Englishmen?—
Arushi Jacob,
Variety,
13 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Rapscallions.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rapscallions. Accessed 7 May. 2026.
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