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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Mischief \Mis"chief\ (m[i^]s"ch[i^]f), noun [OE. meschef bad result, OF. meschief; pref. mes- (L. minus less) + chief end, head, F. chef chief. See {Minus}, and {Chief}.]
1. Harm; damage; esp., disarrangement of order; trouble or vexation caused by human agency or by some living being, intentionally or not; often, calamity, mishap; trivial evil caused by thoughtlessness, or in sport. --Chaucer.
Thy tongue deviseth mischiefs. --Ps. lii. 2.
The practice whereof shall, I hope, secure me from many mischiefs. --Fuller.
2. Cause of trouble or vexation; trouble. --Milton.
The mischief was, these allies would never allow that the common enemy was subdued. --Swift.
{To be in mischief}, to be doing harm or causing annoyance.
{To make mischief}, to do mischief, especially by exciting quarrels.
{To play the mischief}, to cause great harm; to throw into confusion. [Colloq.]
Syn: Damage; harm; hurt; injury; detriment; evil; ill.
Usage: {Mischief}, {Damage}, {Harm}. Damage is an injury which diminishes the value of a thing; harm is an injury which causes trouble or inconvenience; mischief is an injury which disturbs the order and consistency of things. We often suffer damage or harm from accident, but mischief always springs from perversity or folly.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Mischief \Mis"chief\, verb (used with an object) To do harm to. [Obs.] --Milton.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
mischief
noun
1: reckless or malicious behavior that causes discomfort or annoyance in others [syn: {mischief-making}, {mischievousness}, {deviltry}, {devilry}, {devilment}, {rascality}, {roguery}, {roguishness}, {shenanigan}]
2: the quality or nature of being harmful or evil [syn: {maleficence}, {balefulness}] [ant: {beneficence}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
167 Moby Thesaurus words for "mischief": Discordia, Eris, abomination, atrocity, bad, bad boy, badness, bane, bankruptcy, befoulment, blight, booger, breakage, breakdown, buffoon, bugger, clash, clashing, collapse, conflict, contention, corruption, crack-up, crippling, crying evil, cutup, damage, defilement, despoliation, destruction, detriment, devil, devilishness, devilment, devilry, deviltry, diablerie, difference, difficulty, dilapidation, disablement, disaccord, disadvantage, disaffinity, discord, discordance, discordancy, disharmony, disrepair, disruption, dissension, dissent, division, drawback, elf, elfishness, encroachment, enfant terrible, enmity, evil, foolishness, friction, funmaker, grievance, handicap, hardship, harm, havoc, high spirits, hobbling, hood, hoodlum, hooligan, hurt, hurting, ill, imp, impairment, impishness, incapacitation, incompatibility, incompatibleness, infection, infringement, inharmoniousness, inharmony, injury, inroad, jangle, jar, joker, jokester, knave, liability, limb, little devil, little monkey, little rascal, loss, loss of ground, maiming, mayhem, minx, misbehavior, mischief-maker, mischievousness, misfortune, monkey business, monkeyshines, mutilation, naughtiness, noncooperation, open conflict, outrage, pixie, playfulness, poison, pollution, practical joker, prankishness, pranksomeness, prankster, prejudice, puck, puckishness, rapscallion, rascal, rascality, rogue, roguery, roguishness, rowdy, rub, ruffian, ruin, ruination, ruinousness, sabotage, scalawag, scamp, scampishness, scapegrace, scathe, shenanigans, sickening, spoiling, sportiveness, step backward, strained relations, strife, tension, the worst, toxin, trouble, unharmoniousness, unpleasantness, variance, venom, vexation, villain, wag, waggery, waggishness, weakening, woe, wrong, youthful spirits
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