mischief – English noun declension

English noun forms of mischief

Noun: mischief
Singularmischief
Pluralmischiefs

Sample Sentences

  • Drink led to mischief.
  • John's mischief, tying his shoelaces together, irked George at first.
  • 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:]
  • 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:]
  • 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:]
  • She had mischief in her heart.
  • 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:]
  • It may end in her doing a great mischief to herself—and perhaps to others too.
  • [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:]
  • 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:]
  • 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:]
  • 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:]

Etymology

From Middle English myschef, meschef, meschief, mischef, from Old French meschief, from meschever (“to bring to grief”), from mes- (“badly”) + chever (“happen; come to a head”), from Vulgar Latin *capare, from Latin caput (“head”). See: Middle English Nouns 'myschef', Latin Nouns 'caput'.