Deviltry
noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Devilry. countable, uncountable
"The poor girl had a right to her chance, and he should not really alter anything by taking it away from her; for was she not the artist to the tips of her tresses (the ambassadress never in the world), and would she not take it out in something else if one were to make her deviate? So certain was that irrepressible deviltry to insist ever on its own."
- 2 reckless or malicious behavior that causes discomfort or annoyance in others wordnet
- 3 wicked and cruel behavior wordnet
Example
More examples"The poor girl had a right to her chance, and he should not really alter anything by taking it away from her; for was she not the artist to the tips of her tresses (the ambassadress never in the world), and would she not take it out in something else if one were to make her deviate? So certain was that irrepressible deviltry to insist ever on its own."
Etymology
Variant of devilry, influenced by gallantry.
More for "deviltry"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.