1
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
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2
as in villain
a mean, evil, or unprincipled person
some cold-blooded rascal had set the barn afire
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Recent Examples of rascal
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
And Eli was, at times, a bit of a rascal.
—David Kamp, New Yorker, 4 Oct. 2025
In the process of the deal going bad, Vince presumably kills a man with his car, but since it’s never mentioned again during the course of the series, he’s allowed to be treated as a lovable rascal.
—Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 16 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for rascal
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
And Eli was, at times, a bit of a rascal.
—David Kamp, New Yorker, 4 Oct. 2025
In the process of the deal going bad, Vince presumably kills a man with his car, but since it’s never mentioned again during the course of the series, he’s allowed to be treated as a lovable rascal.
—Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 16 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for rascal
Recent Examples of Synonyms for rascal
Noun
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The final monkey to shake off the Scotland team’s back is making it through to the knockout phase of a major tournament for the first time.—
Jordan Campbell,
New York Times,
3 June 2026
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In this show, the inquisitive little monkey from the children’s books and award-winning PBS TV show will be the star in a new adventure musical that should delight those of all ages.—
Elizabeth Marie Himchak,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
3 June 2026
Noun
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The iconic villain, portrayed by Robert Mitchum in 1962’s Cape Fear and by Robert De Niro in Martin Scorsese’s 1991 version, is back on screen in the new Apple TV adaptation.—
Kirsten Chuba,
HollywoodReporter,
3 June 2026
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Dead-end conflict is where the hero and the villain, the good guys and the bad guys, essentially never have any opportunity for movement or reconciliation at the end of the story.—
Dana Taylor,
USA Today,
3 June 2026
Noun
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The Amazon television series Good Omens, which ended this month, came closest—but that book, a comedy about an angel and a devil teaming up to avert Armageddon, was co-written with Neil Gaiman, and the source material ran out after the first season in any case.—
Helen Lewis,
The Atlantic,
24 May 2026
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Angels and devils working together to stop Armageddon.—
Erik Kain,
Forbes.com,
15 May 2026
Noun
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Historically speaking, the Allied Supreme Commander wasn’t considered an angry brute so much as a steady diplomat who was capable of sudden, persuasive rage.—
Alison Foreman,
IndieWire,
26 May 2026
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Even the consumer-level codes that encrypt your online banking are so hard to break that every computer on the planet working together would need longer than the age of the universe to brute-force them apart.—
David M. Ewalt,
Scientific American,
19 May 2026
Noun
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For years, winning a major on the men’s side meant going through at least one tennis monster.—
Dan Zaksheske OutKick,
FOXNews.com,
6 June 2026
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This is because the main enemies in this game look to be large chitinous alien monsters, which your titular Gundam can slice into tiny pieces.—
Ollie Barder,
Forbes.com,
6 June 2026
Noun
-
The Indians in Westerns had war paint and whooped like savages.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
28 May 2026
-
Nature can be a lot of things—beautiful, bloody, sweet, savage.—
Jeffrey Kluger,
Time,
25 May 2026
Noun
-
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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Paxton, meanwhile, is known for being a scoundrel.—
Nicole Russell,
USA Today,
28 May 2026
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New Orleans has long been notorious for embracing such scoundrels, a reputation that isn’t exactly helped by the fact that, for many years, disgraced attorneys who lost their licenses in Louisiana and applied for readmission to the bar often got it.—
Patrick Radden Keefe,
New Yorker,
13 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Rascal.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rascal. Accessed 7 Jun. 2026.
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