(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.
Scathe
Definition:
(v. t.) Alt. of Scath
Example Sentences:
(1) Bill Gates betrayed his ailing business partner and tried to deprive him of his share of the Microsoft fortune, according to a scathing memoir from Paul Allen , the company's billionaire co-founder.
(2) Abramovich, as you might expect, is now scathing about Berezovsky.
(3) Those sorts of failures and might-have-beens have pockmarked Kerry’s record, and the rebukes he has faced have at times been scathing.
(4) Myners – a non-executive director of Co-op group – was also scathing in his assessment of the board members after asking them a simple retail question and likening their inability to answer to that of Paul Flowers, former chairman of the Co-op bank, who had stumbled over basic questions posed by the Treasury select committee last year.
(5) ( more from Dean Baker here ) Other critics of austerity were equally scathing (Paul Krugman posted once , then twice ) .
(6) Her attacks on the president are scathing and she sees him as a busted flush, placing herself at the heart of drives to rebuild the French right after Sarkozy "implodes" at the election.
(7) Australia's prime minister, Kevin Rudd, was scathing about the EU package for Greece over three years agreed last weekend by 15 eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund: "Markets have judged those arrangements to be inadequate," he said .
(8) An NHS trust's lack of honesty caused "unnecessary pain and further distress" to a family who had already suffered from the tragic and avoidable death of a baby boy, the health service ombudsman has said in the latest scathing verdict on the defensive culture within the health service.
(9) What the president thinks is it’s quite clear that new leadership with a set of skills and experiences that are unique to the challenges that OPM faces are urgently needed.” Republicans were scathing in their response to the scandal.
(10) Wong says he has been shocked by its silence at critical moments and is scathing overall: “It just focuses on trade deals.” And that, perhaps, is the subtext of the new documentary’s title.
(11) In a scathing assessment, the CQC reported it had found: “a culture of bullying and harassment” that “morale was low” and that “the decision in 2013 to remove 220 posts across the trust and down band several hundred more nursing staff has had a significant impact on morale and has stretched staffing levels in many areas” that “staffing was a key challenge across all services” poor implementation of a new IT system “had impacted on patient safety and care” and “patients were struggling to get appointments and be recognised as needing care and treatment” in A&E “there were delays in patients being assessed and in handovers taking place for patients who arrived by ambulance” and some patients were seen by the CQC to have received what it called “sub-optimal care”.
(12) Labour MP Margaret Hodge, who chairs the committee, was scathing about the size of the payoff.
(13) He also attempted to calm the waters after scathing reports about the Downing Street dinner with May that he and the European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker , attended last week.
(14) Today staff who worked on the ill-fated magazine were scathing about Lebedev, who became the first Russian (and ex-KGB spy) to own a UK title when he bought a controlling stake in the Evening Standard in January.
(15) While focusing criticism on a few members of the regiment – particularly Corporal Donald Payne, Lieutenant Craig Rodgers and Lieutenant Colonel Jorge Mendonca – the report also passes scathing comment on the role of the unit's regimental medical officer, Dr Derek Keilloh, and its padre, Father Peter Madden.
(16) Mark Rock, the founder and chief executive of sound-sharing application Audioboo , was scathing about the industry's moves towards digital switchover and the decision to base principally around DAB radio.
(17) It is particularly scathing about the practice of some officials personally targeting political opponents including successive home secretaries, the Tory former chief whip Andrew Mitchell , and Tom Winsor, who produced the official report proposing significant police reforms.
(18) Russia’s nuclear sabre-rattling is unjustified, destabilising and dangerous Jens Stoltenberg In blunt language, the Nato chief delivered a scathing critique of Russia’s behaviour over the past year – including Moscow’s armed intervention in Ukraine – and vowed the transatlantic alliance would redouble its commitment to “collective defence”.
(19) As a consequence, he's the go-to guy for a scathing quote on dissembling theologies and their gullible believers.
(20) A scathing report by the Department of Justice last week concluded that Ferguson’s police and court system was blighted by racial bias .