1
as in monkeys
an appealingly mischievous person
those little scamps are always getting into trouble, but no one has the heart to punish them
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in villains
a mean, evil, or unprincipled person
an insincere and ruthlessly ambitious scamp who was willing to do anything to win the reality show's grand prize
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of scamps
Andrew Walsh, Entertainment Weekly, 30 Jan. 2026
McKelway, who wrote for the magazine from the nineteen-thirties to the sixties, specialized in true-crime stories, bringing to life a gallery of scamps and swindlers and impostors.
—David Grann, New Yorker, 19 Oct. 2025
Season 2 brings viewers back to Nevermore Academy, the gothic high school for supernatural scamps that Wednesday enrolled in last time around, and subsequently helped save from Season 1 villains Tyler (Hunter Doohan) and Marilyn Thornhill (Christina Ricci, a one-time Wednesday herself).
—Kelly Lawler, USA Today, 6 Aug. 2025
Noun
The history of The Little Rascals dates back to the 1920s, when a series of short films called our Our Gang introduced audiences to lovable scamps like Spanky, Alfalfa, Buckwheat, and Porky.
—Andrew Walsh, Entertainment Weekly, 30 Jan. 2026
McKelway, who wrote for the magazine from the nineteen-thirties to the sixties, specialized in true-crime stories, bringing to life a gallery of scamps and swindlers and impostors.
—David Grann, New Yorker, 19 Oct. 2025
Season 2 brings viewers back to Nevermore Academy, the gothic high school for supernatural scamps that Wednesday enrolled in last time around, and subsequently helped save from Season 1 villains Tyler (Hunter Doohan) and Marilyn Thornhill (Christina Ricci, a one-time Wednesday herself).
—Kelly Lawler, USA Today, 6 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for scamps
Noun
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In most countries, drugs are typically tested in rodents and nonrodent species like monkeys or dogs.—
Jen Christensen,
CNN Money,
20 Mar. 2026
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The Broward County Commission has shot down a proposal that would have cleared the way for a property owner to put up warehouses on and near environmentally sensitive land, some of which has been home to a colony of African vervet monkeys since the late 1940s.—
Rafael Olmeda,
Sun Sentinel,
5 Mar. 2026
Noun
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There are no villains—or maybe life, or growing up, or getting older, is the villain.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
25 Mar. 2026
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But watching Ready or Not 2, which comes from returning directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, I was consumed with how quaint its characterization of its villains was.—
Alison Willmore,
Vulture,
20 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Gentleman thief Sir Charles Lytton (David Niven) circles the prize while Inspector Jacques Clouseau (Peter Sellers) bungles the pursuit with sublime obliviousness.—
Lilah Ramzi,
Vogue,
25 Oct. 2025
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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The psychology that Bryk wrote for these young men is the key as to why these brutes are more lovable than unbearable.—
Carlos Aguilar,
Variety,
14 Mar. 2026
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Credit to producers Tim Zinnemann and George Linder for selecting a veritable array of brutes to wage battle with Arnold.—
Duane Byrge,
HollywoodReporter,
13 Nov. 2025
Verb
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Continue reading … FACT CHECK – Washington Post botches Israel-Gaza history leading to major correction.—
,
FOXNews.com,
3 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Or Irish, in a time when they were seen as savages by the Englishmen?—
Arushi Jacob,
Variety,
13 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Sparks muffs the punt and South Alabama recovers on Texas State's 39-yard line.—
Caleb Yum,
Austin American Statesman,
29 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Scamps.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/scamps. Accessed 31 Mar. 2026.
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