harmless devilment
- noun
:
travieso
- Their harmless devilment occasionally annoyed the teacher, but it never went too far.
Examples
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He was known for his harmless devilment during family gatherings, always making people laugh.
-
Is that harmless devilment or something more serious?
-
The children's harmless devilment brought smiles to everyone's faces.
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The children engaged in harmless devilment during the summer camp.
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The children's harmless devilment brought smiles to everyone's faces.
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Their harmless devilment occasionally annoyed the teacher, but it never went too far.
-
He was known for his harmless devilment during family gatherings, always making people laugh.
Synonyms
202
3.2
A playful trick done to make people laugh, often at another person
34
2.7
Naughty actions often done by children that annoy people or cause small harm
9
6.7
Light, silly behavior that is not serious
2
3.2
Behaviour that breaks rules and teases others, often by children
1
4.6
Playful actions that cause small harmless trouble for fun
1
7.9
Playful mischief that teases or annoys other people
Playful, slightly naughty actions that children do for fun
Funny or silly actions that try to make people laugh
Playful acts that tease people in a friendly way
Silly behavior meant to make people laugh
A liking for doing playful, slightly naughty tricks on other people
Antonyms
How Harmful
∞
1.4
57
4.1
1
3.9
34
2.7
220
1.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
Both constituents contribute directly to the overall meaning: 'harmless' negates harm and 'devilment' denotes mischievous antics, so the phrase simply denotes mischief that causes no real harm. This is a regular adjective+noun composition following common English patterns (and parallels in other languages), so a B1 learner who knows both words would readily infer the meaning.
Etymology
Harmless devilment may come from older use of devil or devilment to mean a naughty, playful trick rather than a real demon. People added harmless to show the tricks were only for fun, so the phrase now means 'playful mischief that causes no real harm'.