impish
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of impish
Explanation
If you know someone who's playful and mischievous, you can describe them as impish. Your impish little brother probably gets away with all kinds of pranks because he's so cute. If you're impish, you might play practical jokes on people, tease them, tickle them, or be otherwise cheerfully annoying. The troublemaker in a kindergarten class is likely to be fairly impish, naughty and a little silly. The adjective impish comes from imp, a mythological creature that's similar to a fairy but known in folklore for its jokes and pranks.
Vocabulary lists containing impish
Stargirl
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A Thousand Splendid Suns
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The Color Purple
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Those new to Mr. Helprin’s work will discover his “grit, romanticism and impish humor” and a celebration of “the ennobling effects of romantic love and beauty.”
From The Wall Street Journal • May 29, 2026
The novel blends grit, romanticism and impish humor.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 22, 2026
As attention spans keep getting whittled down, intellectually impish Romanian satirist Radu Jude continues to go longer and longer, his latest act of cinematic disobedience the nearly three-hour mythbuster “Dracula.”
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 31, 2025
Manuel chips in enthusiastically with an impish grin, saying that the new systems that he too firmly believes will emerge will be the "next stage in humanity's evolution".
From BBC • May 25, 2025
The next heir, short and round, entered timidly, her lips pressed together in an impish smile that curved up to what must be pointed ears under her straight-cut, steely hair.
From "The Westing Game" by Ellen Raskin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
