Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Behavior or character typical of a rascal.
- noun A base or mischievous act.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Low or mean people collectively; rascals in general; rascaldom: now used chiefly in the moral sense. See
rascal , a., 2. - noun The character or an action of a rascal; the quality of being a rascal; low or mean trickery; base or dishonest procedure; villainy; fraud.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun The quality or state of being rascally, or a rascal; mean trickishness or dishonesty; base fraud.
- noun obsolete The poorer and lower classes of people.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun
Rascals collectively; therabble , themasses . - noun The behavior of a
rascal .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun the quality of being a slippery rascal
- noun reckless or malicious behavior that causes discomfort or annoyance in others
- noun the trait of indulging in disreputable pranks
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word rascality.
Examples
-
_Educated rascality is infinitely more of a menace to society than ignorant rascality_.
Pushing to the Front Orison Swett Marden 1887
-
Not exactly, dear! "replied her grandfather; –" but such little-minded rascality is not just the vice one would expect to find in a gallant soldier. "
Queechy 1854
-
I hope the Committee will not act so unjustly as to turn their backs on all cases because there is 'rascality' in some; because there is rascality in some cases, why should a just cause suffer?
-
He shall learn that this kind of rascality is not permitted by the nobles of France.
The False Chevalier or, The Lifeguard of Marie Antoinette William Douw Lighthall
-
Being suspected of "rascality" in this direction, he was arrested and put in jail, but as no evidence could be found against him he was soon released.
-
There was no remedy for what was called by Lord Lovat's friends, the "rascality" of the judges: -- and again this unworthy Highlander was driven from his own country to seek safety in the land wherein his offences had received their pardon.
Memoirs of the Jacobites of 1715 and 1745 Volume II. Mrs. Thomson
-
The way he did it brought him under the just accusation of being guilty of every kind of rascality known to politics.
-
The courts rapidly lost their power, and the worst people, both Americans and Creoles, practised every kind of rascality with impunity.
The Winning of the West, Volume 2 From the Alleghanies to the Mississippi, 1777-1783 Theodore Roosevelt 1888
-
The way he did it brought him under the just accusation of being guilty of every kind of rascality known to politics.
-
The probability is, that this single experience educated him so far that his next employer would have no occasion to complain of his "rascality;" and I very much doubt if any amount of
A Journey in the Seaboard Slave States; With Remarks on Their Economy 1856
yarb commented on the word rascality
...you have made away with a candlestick, a necklace, and a pair of drop ear-rings: and what is worse, you have committed your rascalities in the livery of the law.
- Lesage, The Adventures of Gil Blas of Santillane, tr. Smollett, bk 2 ch. 5
September 13, 2008