What's the difference between mischief and naughty?

Mischief


Definition:

  • (n.) Harm; damage; esp., disarrangement of order; trouble or vexation caused by human agency or by some living being, intentionally or not; often, calamity, mishap; trivial evil caused by thoughtlessness, or in sport.
  • (n.) Cause of trouble or vexation; trouble.
  • (v. t.) To do harm to.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) They want to send a very clear message to China that they are serious about this.” Facebook Twitter Pinterest This image from the US navy purportedly shows Chinese dredging vessels in the waters around Mischief reef in the disputed Spratly archipelago in May 2015.
  • (2) Steering the debate through these turbulent waters with more than his usual sense of mischief was David Dimbleby .
  • (3) And he was not above a spot of mischief on that score, imagining perhaps - and despite the prime minster's known stance – a time of closer European integration.
  • (4) | Howard W French Read more In the South China Sea, China has, by massive dredging operations, turned submerged reefs with names out of the novels of Joseph Conrad – Mischief Reef, Fiery Cross Reef – into artificial islands, and is completing a 3,000m runway on Fiery Cross.
  • (5) Nelson said: "Against the cacophony of the 24-hour news era, there has never been a greater need for what the Spectator offers: wit, style, mischief, elegance of thought and independence of opinion.
  • (6) Their carefully judged mischief lightened the whole mixture like stiffly beaten egg-whites.
  • (7) Campaigning before the June election Demirtaş had been full of mischief, needling Erdoğan, making fun of the AKP’s gaffes.
  • (8) He had a chirpy self-confidence even then and a sense of humour, but what made him attractive to a journalist was his enthusiasm for mischief.
  • (9) Did an implied "come up and see my target seat" let a political supremo make passes at women well out of his league – or did they make it up and risk all for mischief?
  • (10) He wrote with mischief and a sometimes acid eye about the theatre of politics.
  • (11) There is a new thirst for characters, for mischief-makers and rascals, for politicians whose mistakes make them more accessible to the rest of us.
  • (12) If they are not rascally Tories making mischief or communist infiltrators, then they are leftie romantics, their heads in a dwam and full of ideals incompatible with modern, monetarist Britain.
  • (13) The anecdote describes both his ego and his attachment to mischief-making – and it might even be true.
  • (14) Some people have tried to make mischief by claiming that the pupil premium is not additional money.
  • (15) 'Positive points are difficult to find today,' he said in that gnomic way of his that falls between irony and mischief.
  • (16) In the fevered Daily Mail version, this fact suggests a nefarious and hyperactive court, up to mischief and rejoicing in 'overruling' national authorities, better to promote the interests of sex offenders and the homicidal.
  • (17) US manoeuvre in South China Sea leaves little wiggle room with China Read more The guided-missile destroyer reportedly received orders to travel within 12 nautical miles (22.2km, or 13.8 miles) of the Spratlys’ Mischief and Subi reefs, which are at the heart of a controversial Chinese island building campaign that has soured ties between Washington and Beijing.
  • (18) I suspect that messrs Fry and Connolly – who grew up watching this man segue from gar- landed stage-thesp to tireless campaigner (Stonewall, women's and children's rights) to Hollywood catnip to that dreadful position for anyone with a fine remaining sense of mischief: being on the cusp of national-treasure status – were equally conscious of the company they were in.
  • (19) The introduction of Olsen in place of the sad and utterly disorientated McGrath for the last 15 minutes provided no answers as Oxford's willingness and determination to push wide down the flanks where Phillips was always a source of mischief only served to underline the frailty to United's current defensive framework.
  • (20) Gizewski could be accused of eccentricity (there is also a long letter to Social Democrat party members on his site, explaining why they should have voted against a coalition with Merkel's party), and perhaps of wilful mischief – he could have just linked to one of the thousands of other scans of Mein Kampf you can find on Google.

Naughty


Definition:

  • (superl.) Having little or nothing.
  • (superl.) Worthless; bad; good for nothing.
  • (superl.) hence, corrupt; wicked.
  • (superl.) Mischievous; perverse; froward; guilty of disobedient or improper conduct; as, a naughty child.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Karmani described Respect as "the naughty children" of Bradford – "and with parents like that, what do you bloody expect?"
  • (2) Brand isn’t the messiah (or just a naughty boy, for that matter) and his message pisses off plenty of people.
  • (3) Funny nice, the kind that comes with a pleasing undercurrent of naughtiness.
  • (4) Consequently, there isn't a week that goes by without Delingpole causing some sort of kerfuffle, then running away laughing like a naughty boy who has just blown off through the headmaster's letterbox.
  • (5) Describing the moment McKellen knocked on his dressing room door he said: “I ushered him in nervously, expecting notes for my poor performance or indiscipline – I was a foolish, naughty young actor.
  • (6) We did not perform a sexy version of oppression or create a teasing "naughty" campaign.
  • (7) Harry describes her as “a total kid through and through”, whose motto was “you can be as naughty as you want, just don’t get caught”.
  • (8) When Michael is naughty she threatens to hand him over to "the policeman" and she sends grumpy Jane to exile inside a cracked Doulton bowl.
  • (9) In keeping with her policy of never ­giving interviews, she was spared a grilling by Naughtie.
  • (10) I seesaw-grunted out of bed at 8.30am and had a bird bath, soaping mainly the naughty bits, for I was in a hurry that Wednesday: it was the day I filed my Observer TV review.
  • (11) Francesco Totti has escaped with a spell on the naughty step for goading Lazio fans in the wake of Sunday's Rome derby, but has been fined €10,000 for each thumb he pointed down in a bid to rile them up.
  • (12) In the aftermath of the goal, Ameobi must have said something naughty to Dowd, who sends him to the tunnel.
  • (13) The impending publication of the putative nude pictures, a humiliation that turned out to be a bluff, might have pulled Watson down among the lower orders of former child stars, those people who now exist in the public consciousness merely as cautionary tales to scare naughty teenagers: “Look what happened to Bieber today!”; “Did you see Cyrus in that outfit?” Although Watson has put her head above the parapet before, the provocation cited by the hoaxers was the New York speech she gave last Monday promoting the HeForShe campaign and arguing that gender discrimination harms both men and women.
  • (14) Quite the reverse: Charlie Hebdo was described decades ago as “ bête et méchant ” – bad and naughty – and has revelled in the description ever since.
  • (15) Pupils are never naughty, just “unprofessional”; for lateness, lack of homework and classroom disruption, they lose some of the 50 “professionalism points” with which they start each week.
  • (16) In recent months, he has fallen out with so many first-team players that locals joke about the need for a "naughty step" at the training ground.
  • (17) It originally quoted Kathryn Bigelow as saying "naughty subjects" rather than "knotty subjects"
  • (18) Brazil skipper Thiago Silva must sit this one out on the naughty step after picking up a silly booking - his second of the tournament - for obstructing Colombia goalkeeper David Ospina as he attempted to take a kick.
  • (19) Naughtie, interviewing Gardner, paused and said "that's a fascinating piece of information".
  • (20) "He went for it," says Beckett with a laugh, sounding less like a record mogul and more like a naughty schoolboy.