different between mischief vs disadvantage

English

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”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?m?st??f/, /?m??t??f/
• Rhymes: -?st??f

Noun

mischief (countable and uncountable, plural mischiefs)

1. (uncountable) Conduct that playfully causes petty annoyance.

   Synonyms: delinquency, naughtiness, roguery, scampishness; see also Thesaurus:villainy, Thesaurus:mischief

2. (countable) A playfully annoying action.

3. (collective) A group or a pack of rats.
   • 2014, G. W. Rennie, The Rat Chronicles, iUniverse ?ISBN, page 21

     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.

   • 2015, Rachel Smith, John Davidson, Rats For Kids, Mendon Cottage Books ?ISBN, page 6

     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.

4. (archaic) Harm or injury:
   1. (uncountable) Harm or trouble caused by an agent or brought about by a particular cause.
      • 1815, Jane Austen, Emma, Volume I, Chapter 8:

        Vanity working on a weak head, produces every sort of mischief.
   2. (countable) An injury or an instance of harm or trouble caused by a person or other agent or cause.

5. (law) A criminal offence defined in various ways in various jurisdictions, sometimes including causing damage to another's property.
6. (archaic, countable) A cause or agent of annoyance, harm or injury, especially a person who causes mischief.

   Synonyms: bad boy, knave, rapscallion, rascal, rogue; see also Thesaurus:villain, Thesaurus:troublemaker
7. (euphemistic) The Devil; used as an expletive.
   • 1967, The Statesman (volume 12, page 260)

     What the mischief are you? and how the mischief did you get here, and where in thunder did you come from?

8. (Australia) Casual and/or flirtatious sexual acts.

Synonyms

• (harm or injury): agitation, annoyance, corruption, damage, demolition, destruction, detriment, disablement, disruption, evil, harm, hurt, ill, impairment, incapacitation, injury, nuisance, pique, ravage, sabotage, scathe, trouble, undoing, unmaking, vexation, weakening, wrong

Derived terms

Translations

Further reading

• mischief at OneLook Dictionary Search
• Mischief in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Middle English

Noun

mischief

1. Alternative form of myschef

English

Alternative forms

• disadvauntage (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English disavauntage, from Old French desavantage.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: d?s'?d-vän't?j, IPA^(key): /?d?s?d?v??nt?d?/
• (General American) enPR: d?s'?d-v?n't?j, IPA^(key): /?d?s?d?vænt?d?/

Noun

disadvantage (plural disadvantages)

1. A weakness or undesirable characteristic; a con.
2. A setback or handicap.

   My height is a disadvantage for reaching high shelves.

   • 1774, Edmund Burke, speech to the electors of Bristol

     I was brought hither under the disadvantage of being unknown, even by sight, to any of you.

   • 1859-1890, John G. Palfrey, History of New England to the Revolutionary War

     Abandoned by their great patron, the faction henceforward acted at disadvantage.

3. Loss; detriment; hindrance.
   • 1834-1874, George Bancroft, History of the United States, from the Discovery of the American Continent.

     They would throw a construction on his conduct, to his disadvantage before the public.

Synonyms

• (an undesirable characteristic): afterdeal, con, drawback, malefit, downside
• (a handicap): afterdeal, weakness

Antonyms

• advantage

Translations

Verb

disadvantage (third-person singular simple present disadvantages, present participle disadvantaging, simple past and past participle disadvantaged)

1. (transitive) To place at a disadvantage.

   They fear it might disadvantage honest participants to allow automated entries.

   • 2013 September 28, Kenan Malik, "London Is Special, but Not That Special," New York Times (retrieved 28 September 2013):

     For London to have its own exclusive immigration policy would exacerbate the sense that immigration benefits only certain groups and disadvantages the rest. It would entrench the gap between London and the rest of the nation. And it would widen the breach between the public and the elite that has helped fuel anti-immigrant hostility.

Synonyms

• tell against

Derived terms

• disadvantageous
• disadvantageously
• disadvantageousness