mischief

plural mischiefs

1. uncountableConduct that playfully causes petty annoyance.

   Drink led to mischief.

   Synonyms: delinquency, naughtiness, roguery, scampishness, atrociousness, awfulness, badness, corruption

2. countableA playfully annoying action.

   John's mischief, tying his shoelaces together, irked George at first.

   1 more example

   I'le aſſure ye / She vvill not ſee you: ſhe has heard, […] your ſeverall miſcheifes, / Your rovvſes, and your vvenches: […]

   1610–1616 (date written), Iohn [i.e., John] Fletcher, Monsieur Thomas. A Comedy. […], London: […] Thomas Harper, for Iohn Waterson, […], published 1639, →OCLC, Act I, scene ii, signature C, verso

3. collectivecountableuncountableA nest or pack of mice or rats.

   Meet a mischief of mice that is not nibbling away at the foundation of an old building.

   2025 December 25, Neva Rae Fox, “This Mischief of Mice Preserves a Cathedral”, in The Living Church, archived from the original on 28 Jul 2026

   3 more examples

   Kirac, the leader of the rats under his charge, speaks to the major through his telepathic abilities that manifested after the alien virus infected him and his mischief of rats.

   2014, G. W. Rennie, The Rat Chronicles, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 21

   A group of rats is not a herd or a gaggle, but a pack or a mischief of rats. Rats in general are omnivorous, meaning they will eat almost anything.

   2015, Rachel Smith, John Davidson, Rats For Kids, Mendon Cottage Books, →ISBN, page 6

   This was only the latest internet-based catastrophe caused by a mischief of rats (yes, that's what a group of rats is called).

   2026 April 11, Aaron Greenbaum, “Rats Are Wrecking Fiber Optic Internet Cables – And It's A Bigger Problem Than You Think”, in BGR, archived from the original on 28 Jul 2026

4. Harm or injury:
   1. archaicuncountableHarm or trouble caused by an agent or brought about by a particular cause.

      She had mischief in her heart.

      5 more examples

      Sooner or later he'll succeed in doing some serious mischief.

      Was I the Cauſe of Miſchief, or the Man / Whoſe lawlesſ Luſt the bloody War began?

      1697, Virgil, “The Tenth Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 502, lines 139–140

      I have been tired in history with the perpetual folly of those states, who call in foreigners to assist them against a common enemy: but the mischief was, these allies would never be brought to allow, that the common enemy was quite subdued. And they had reason; for it proved at last, that one part of the common enemy was those who called them in, and so the allies became at length the masters.

      1718 December 14 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Jonathan Swift, “A Letter Concerning the Sacramental Test”, in Thomas Sheridan, John Nichols, editors, The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, […], new edition, volume IV, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1801, →OCLC, page 435

      Vanity working on a weak head, produces every sort of mischief.

      1815 December (indicated as 1816), [Jane Austen], chapter 8, in Emma: […], volume I, London: […] [Charles Roworth and James Moyes] for John Murray, →OCLC

      I fear this means that there is some mischief afoot.

      1914 September – 1915 May, Arthur Conan Doyle, chapter 1, in The Valley of Fear: A Sherlock Holmes Novel, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, published 27 February 1915, →OCLC

   2. archaiccountableAn injury or an instance of harm or trouble caused by a person or other agent or cause.

      It may end in her doing a great mischief to herself—and perhaps to others too.

      2 more examples

      [R]eligion / Hides many mischiefs from suspicion.

      c. 1589–1590 (date written), Christopher Marlo[we], edited by Tho[mas] Heywood, The Famous Tragedy of the Rich Iew of Malta. […], London: […] I[ohn] B[eale] for Nicholas Vavasour, […], published 1633, →OCLC, Act I

      I will heape mischiefes vpon them, I will spend mine arrowes vpon them.

      1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Deuteronomy 32:23

5. countableuncountablelawA criminal offence defined in various ways in various jurisdictions, sometimes including causing damage to another's property.
6. archaiccountableA cause or agent of annoyance, harm or injury, especially a person who causes mischief.

   Epimetheus was scatter-brained and a mischief to men for having taken the woman [Pandora] that Zeus had formed.

   1993, Carlos Parada, Genealogic Guide to Greek Mythology, page 71

   1 more example

   To die like a man of honour, Sir Hargrave, you must have lived like one. You should be sure of your cause. But these pistols are too ready a mischief. Were I to meet you in your own way, Sir Hargrave, I should not expect, that a man so enraged would fire his over my head, as I should be willing to do mine over his. Life I would not put upon the perhaps involuntary twitch of a finger.

   1753 (indicated as 1754), [Samuel Richardson], The History of Sir Charles Grandison. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; [a]nd sold by C. Hitch and L. Hawes, […], →OCLC

   Synonyms: bad boy, knave, rapscallion, rascal, rogue, antimodel, bad guy, baddie

7. countableeuphemisticuncountableThe Devil; used as an expletive.

   What the mischief are you? and how the mischief did you get here, and where in thunder did you come from?

   1967, The Statesman, volume 12, page 260

8. AustraliacountableuncountableCasual and/or flirtatious sexual acts.

present singular third person mischiefs · participle present mischiefing · participle past mischiefed · past mischiefed · alternative mischieve

1. obsoletetransitiveTo do a mischief to; to harm.

   "Not now, Smee," Hook said darkly. "He is only one, and I want to mischief all the seven. Scatter and look for them."

   1911, J[ames] M[atthew] Barrie, “The Island Come True”, in Peter and Wendy, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, page 86

2. obsoletetransitiveTo slander.

   And so it hath been divers times; Men mischiefing the Jews to excuse their own Wickedness: as to instance one Precedent in the time of a certain King of Portugal.

   1708, John Dunton, The Phenix, page 403