impishness
Impishness is a quality of being very playful and a little bit naughty. Think of the impishness of an adorable puppy nibbling on your favorite shoes.
When someone's impishness comes to your attention, it's usually because they're being mischievous, though not so rascally that you actually get angry. Your friend's impishness makes her such a popular class clown that even your teacher has to laugh. Impishness comes from imp, "small, mischievous sprite." Imp originally meant "young plant shoot," before it began to refer to devilish children.
Definitions of impishness
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the trait of behaving like an imp
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synonyms:
mischievousness, puckishness, whimsicality
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type of:
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fun, playfulness
a disposition to find (or make) causes for amusement
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fun, playfulness
DISCLAIMER: These example sentences appear in various news sources and books to reflect the usage of the word ‘impishness'.
Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Vocabulary.com or its editors.
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