RASCAL Synonyms: 106 Similar and Opposite Words

rascal

noun

ˈra-skəl

Definition of rascal

as in monkey

an appealingly mischievous person you little rascal, I saw you snitching some hors d'oeuvres even though our guests haven't even arrived yet

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in villain

a mean, evil, or unprincipled person some cold-blooded rascal had set the barn afire

Synonyms & Similar Words

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 rascal 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 In a time when unemployment is on the rise and the rich are running amok and wreaking havoc on the poor — and the social services in place to support them — who doesn’t love the idea of rogue rascals sticking it to a bougie institution by running off with its crown jewels? — Kathleen Newman-Bremang, Refinery29, 12 Nov. 2025 The hilarious hijinks that ensue are centered on a rugby-playing rascal whose initial interests in pulling chicks and working get-rich-quick schemes give way to a lifelong love of writing poetry in the post-Soviet-occupation era of the 1990s. — Courtney Howard, Variety, 30 Oct. 2025 See All Example Sentences for rascal

Recent Examples of Synonyms for rascal

Noun

Silicon Valley has given the world the Firefox Fox, now-defunct Gateway cows, the former Twitter bird, GitHub’s octopus, Mailchimp’s monkey and Hootsuite’s owl.

— Ankolika De, The Conversation, 5 Nov. 2026
The monkey head was inside a wooden box that was wrapped in towels.

— Meena Thiruvengadam, Travel + Leisure, 5 Nov. 2026

Definition of monkey

Noun

Horowitz then brought up Skarsgard’s longtime interest in playing a villain in the James Bond franchise.

— Lexi Carson, HollywoodReporter, 7 Nov. 2026
Much psychological research has focussed on the degradation of villains, but a symmetrical force works to elevate victims.

— Paul Bloom, New Yorker, 6 Nov. 2026

Definition of villain

Noun

The guitars shred our ears, the wall opens up, and a pair of monsters slinks into the room — a red devil, a hunchbacked demon with a black snout.

— Sara Holdren, Vulture, 3 Nov. 2026
In 1974 the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons first appeared, and later editions featured such character types as devils and demons.

— Jordana Rosenfeld, Encyclopedia Britannica, 30 Oct. 2026

Definition of devil

Noun

Most sportsmen wonder how any whitetail bucks, let alone a brute such as Kontras’, could have been so easily patterned.

— Jeff Murray, Outdoor Life, 20 Aug. 2026
The show’s depiction of Hugh as a family man has been much more sympathetic than the book’s description of him as a power-hungry brute.

— James Grebey, Vulture, 10 Aug. 2026

Definition of brute

Noun

The monster romance is as old as Pasiphaë tricking the white bull into bedding her, but a spate of recent offerings, across film and literature, especially, have come to form something less like a genre and more like a drug.

— Doreen St. Félix, New Yorker, 7 Nov. 2026
The potential start of a monster buyback program in December is a promising catalyst.

— Alexa LoMonaco,Kevin Stankiewicz, CNBC, 6 Nov. 2026

Definition of monster

Noun

And mostly, the comedian known for his savage takedowns and viral beefs is keeping his cool.

— Timothy Bella, HollywoodReporter, 20 Oct. 2026
Among the English-speaking settlers, the events at Lake George would be remembered as a massacre, and the Indigenous people whose home this was, whose conventions of war did not match those of the European empires, were called savages.

— James Whorton Jr, Longreads, 13 Oct. 2026

Definition of savage

Noun

The 83-year-old Mann is known for directing gritty crime stories, many of which look at cops and criminals and are set in urban landscapes.

— Brent Lang, IndieWire, 1 Nov. 2026
If a criminal still controls the sender's inbox, that person could potentially intercept the question and send a reassuring answer.

— Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 1 Nov. 2026

Definition of criminal

Noun

There’s been bestselling books, podcasts, an Alex Gibney documentary, and an Emmy-winning series featuring Amanda Seyfried as the Silicon Valley scoundrel.

— Brent Lang, IndieWire, 16 Oct. 2026
Meanwhile, Frank Dillane plays Willoughby, Marianne’s love interest, with such commitment that the actor was surprised to learn his character is universally acknowledged to be a scoundrel.

— Rebecca Mead, New Yorker, 21 Sep. 2026

Definition of scoundrel

Browse Nearby Words

rarity

rascal

rascality

See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

Style

“Rascal.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rascal. Accessed 9 Nov. 2026.

Copy Citation

Synonyms of rascal

noun

Example Sentences

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

wabi-sabi

Popular in Grammar & Usage

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?

Popular in Wordplay

Great Big List of Beautiful and Useless Words, Vol. 5

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

7 Words for Old-Timey Vehicles

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World

Popular

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Great Big List of Beautiful and Useless Words, Vol. 5

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Games & Quizzes