different between mischevious vs naughty

English

Etymology

From mischievous, under the influence of adjectives ending in -ious.

Pronunciation

• enPR: m?s.ch??.v?.?s, IPA^(key): /m?s.?t??i?.vi.?s/.

Adjective

mischevious

1. Nonstandard form of mischievous.

Usage notes

This spelling, mischievious, 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.

Anagrams

• mischievous

English

Etymology

From Middle English naughty, nau?ty, nau?ti, na?ti, equivalent to naught +? -y.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?n??ti/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?n?ti/, /?n?ti/
• Homophone: knotty (in accents with the cot-caught merger)
• Rhymes: -??ti

Adjective

naughty (comparative naughtier, superlative naughtiest)

1. Mischievous; tending to misbehave or act badly (especially of a child). [from 17th c.]

   Some naughty boys at school hid the teacher's lesson notes.

2. Sexually provocative; now in weakened sense, risqué, cheeky. [from 19th c.]

   I bought some naughty lingerie for my honeymoon.

   If I see you send another naughty email to your friends, you will be forbidden from using the computer!

3. (now rare, archaic) Evil, wicked, morally reprehensible. [from 15th c.]
   • 1589, John Bucke, Instructions for the Use of the Beades

     my prone??e to ?inne, and naughty appetites and desires, woulde drawe me headlong to the pitte of hell

   • c. 1596-97, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act V scene i^[1]

     […] How far that little candle throws his beams! / So shines a good deed in a naughty world.

   • 1644, John Milton, Areopagitica

     Wholesome meats to a vitiated stomack differ little or nothing from unwholesome; and best books to a naughty mind are not unappliable to occasions of evill.

4. (obsolete) Bad, worthless, substandard. [16th-19th c.]

Alternative forms

• noughty (archaic or obsolete)

Synonyms

• (immoral, sexually provocative): dirty
• (mischievous): mischievous

Antonyms

• (immoral; cheeky): nice

Derived terms

• naughtily
• naughtiness
• naughty bit

Translations