different between baleful vs mischievous

English

Alternative forms

• balefull (archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English baleful, balful, baluful, from Old English bealuful, which being equivalent to bealu +? -ful. Surface analysis as bale (“evil, woe”) +? -ful. See bale for further etymology.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?be?l.f?l/

Adjective

baleful (comparative more baleful, superlative most baleful)

1. Portending evil; ominous.
   • 1873, James Thomson (B.V.), The City of Dreadful Night

     The street-lamps burn amid the baleful glooms,

     Amidst the soundless solitudes immense

     Of ranged mansions dark and still as tombs.

   • 1938, Xavier Herbert, Capricornia, New York: D. Appleton-Century, 1943, Chapter XII, p. 194, [1]

     […] he went off alone with his family, and, watched by the day's red baleful eye, pumped the pump-car homeward, […]

   • 1949, Naomi Replansky, “Complaint of the Ignorant Wizard” in Ring Song (published 1952):

     I learned the speech of birds; now every tree
     Screams out to me a baleful prophecy.
2. Miserable, wretched, distressed, suffering.
   • 1674, John Milton, Paradise Lost (Book I), line 56

     round he throws his baleful eyes, that witnessed huge affliction and dismay ...

Derived terms

• balefully
• unbaleful

Translations

Middle English

Alternative forms

• balful, baluful, balefulle, balefule, balleful, balefull, balful, balfulle

Etymology

From Old English bealuful; equivalent to bale +? -ful.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?ba?lful/, /?balful/

Adjective

baleful

1. evil, horrible, malicious
2. (rare) dangerous, harmful, injurious
3. (rare) worthless, petty, lowly

Derived terms

• balfulli

Descendants

• English: baleful

References

• “b?leful, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-05-19.

English

Alternative forms

• mischievious, mischevious (nonstandard forms)

Etymology

From Middle English myschevous, mischevous, from Anglo-Norman meschevous, from Old French meschever, from mes- (“mis-”) + chever (“come to an end”) (from chef (“head”)). Synchronically analyzable as mischief +? -ous.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?m?s.t???.v?s/, /?m?s.t???.v?s/
• (nonstandard) /m?s.?t??i?.vi.?s/ (often along with the nonstandard spelling misch(i)evious)
• (dated) /m?s.?t??i?.v?s/

Adjective

mischievous (comparative more mischievous, superlative most mischievous)

1. Causing mischief; injurious.
2. Troublesome, cheeky, badly behaved.

   Matthew had a twin brother called Edward, who was always mischievous and badly behaved.

Usage notes

The spelling "misch(i)evious" and similar ones can be found since the 16th century, so the corresponding pronunciation is at least as old. But despite being common in a wide range of social classes today, these spellings and the corresponding pronunciation are still considered nonstandard and often viewed as incorrect.

Synonyms

• (causing mischief): harmful, hurtful, detrimental, noxious, pernicious, destructive; see also Thesaurus:harmful
• (badly-behaved): badly-behaved, naughty

Derived terms

• mischievously
• mischievousness

Translations

Further reading

• mischievous in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• mischievous in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• mischievous at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• mischevious