as in monkey
an appealingly mischievous person
we could never resist the little urchin's pleas for candy
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Recent Examples of urchin
She will soon be joined on these windy cardio workouts by a scruffy urchin named Heathcliff (Owen Cooper), whom her father brings home one day.
—
Justin Chang, New Yorker, 9 Feb. 2026
In Victorious Cupid, Caravaggio demolished Renaissance ideals of the chubby, celestial putto by depicting a young god with the body of an Adonis and the face and feet of a cheeky street urchin.
—Tobias Grey, Air Mail, 27 Dec. 2025
After the multi-year marine heatwave hit the North Pacific in late 2013, warmer ocean temperatures that followed not only stressed kelp but also worsened the spread of sea star wasting disease that wiped out sunflower sea stars — one of the purple urchin’s main predators.
—Chaewon Chung
december 11, Sacbee.com, 11 Dec. 2025
As Wilford Brimley, Glenn Close and an urchin in a newsboy’s cap look on and the music begins to swell, Roy Hobbs sends that last pitch screaming into the rightfield lights—which triggers a chain reaction of cinematic explosions.
—Anthony Crupi, Sportico.com, 10 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for urchin
Justin Chang, New Yorker, 9 Feb. 2026
In Victorious Cupid, Caravaggio demolished Renaissance ideals of the chubby, celestial putto by depicting a young god with the body of an Adonis and the face and feet of a cheeky street urchin.
—Tobias Grey, Air Mail, 27 Dec. 2025
After the multi-year marine heatwave hit the North Pacific in late 2013, warmer ocean temperatures that followed not only stressed kelp but also worsened the spread of sea star wasting disease that wiped out sunflower sea stars — one of the purple urchin’s main predators.
—Chaewon Chung
december 11, Sacbee.com, 11 Dec. 2025
As Wilford Brimley, Glenn Close and an urchin in a newsboy’s cap look on and the music begins to swell, Roy Hobbs sends that last pitch screaming into the rightfield lights—which triggers a chain reaction of cinematic explosions.
—Anthony Crupi, Sportico.com, 10 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for urchin
Recent Examples of Synonyms for urchin
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 zoo also asks guests to not livestream video of the monkey enclosure or take photos or videos of zookeepers working.—
Greta Cross,
USA Today,
20 Mar. 2026
Noun
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Is chocolate devil’s food cake with ganache your favorite birthday cake?—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
19 Mar. 2026
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Its theme — that the rich are different, and in not-good ways — meant she’d be forced into a ritualistic game of hide-and-seek, running for her life from her devil-worshipping, masters-of-the-world in-laws.—
Michael Ordoña,
San Francisco Chronicle,
18 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Urchin.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/urchin. Accessed 22 Mar. 2026.
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