as in mischievous
tending to or exhibiting reckless playfulness
a waggish disposition that often got him into trouble as a child
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Examples of waggish in a Sentence
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Recent Examples on the Web
After publishing a New York Times piece about grieving her late husband, the waggish writer received an email from a kindly old acquaintance who was also recently widowed.
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Patrick Ryan, USA TODAY, 24 Oct. 2024
He’s left a distinctive stamp on the orchestra’s sound in the years since, whether declaiming the beginning of Mahler 5 with a preacher’s conviction or, as in a recent Ravinia concert, tossing off a ragtime solo with waggish virtuosity.
—Hannah Edgar, Chicago Tribune, 5 Aug. 2024
Foreman’s own work was waggish, so the Off Off Broadway Wooster production is frequently tongue-in-cheek.
—Helen Shaw, The New Yorker, 13 Apr. 2024
The three children of Leonard Bernstein uphold their father’s legacy with waggish exuberance.
—Michael Schulman, The New Yorker, 13 Nov. 2023
His simple line drawings—in contrast with painterly images more common to the times—and waggish humor also made way for the eerie and fanciful later work of William Steig and ultimately for the refinement of Saul Steinberg’s sharp wit.
—Françoise Mouly, The New Yorker, 28 Aug. 2023
That is an untitled image by the waggish Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, from 1999, and the poor guy being displayed, with a heretical hint of crucifixion, is a gallery owner from Milan—a kindred spirit for Nemo, who is equally stuck.
—Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 17 Mar. 2023
Trendy, vapid Chazelle sentimentalized a token Mexican immigrant in Babylon, but Jordan and waggish co-screenwriter William Monahan, who scripted Scorsese’s The Departed, plays with ethnicity (those Irish mugs, Lange’s perfect brogue, and Cumming’s perfect Southern twang).
—Armond White, National Review, 17 Feb. 2023
His sense of humor occasionally got him in trouble; according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, he was fired from his administrative job after publishing a waggish column about teacher evaluations at the university, and taught for another year before retiring in 1990.
—Washington Post, 3 Sep. 2021
Patrick Ryan, USA TODAY, 24 Oct. 2024
He’s left a distinctive stamp on the orchestra’s sound in the years since, whether declaiming the beginning of Mahler 5 with a preacher’s conviction or, as in a recent Ravinia concert, tossing off a ragtime solo with waggish virtuosity.
—Hannah Edgar, Chicago Tribune, 5 Aug. 2024
Foreman’s own work was waggish, so the Off Off Broadway Wooster production is frequently tongue-in-cheek.
—Helen Shaw, The New Yorker, 13 Apr. 2024
The three children of Leonard Bernstein uphold their father’s legacy with waggish exuberance.
—Michael Schulman, The New Yorker, 13 Nov. 2023
His simple line drawings—in contrast with painterly images more common to the times—and waggish humor also made way for the eerie and fanciful later work of William Steig and ultimately for the refinement of Saul Steinberg’s sharp wit.
—Françoise Mouly, The New Yorker, 28 Aug. 2023
That is an untitled image by the waggish Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, from 1999, and the poor guy being displayed, with a heretical hint of crucifixion, is a gallery owner from Milan—a kindred spirit for Nemo, who is equally stuck.
—Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 17 Mar. 2023
Trendy, vapid Chazelle sentimentalized a token Mexican immigrant in Babylon, but Jordan and waggish co-screenwriter William Monahan, who scripted Scorsese’s The Departed, plays with ethnicity (those Irish mugs, Lange’s perfect brogue, and Cumming’s perfect Southern twang).
—Armond White, National Review, 17 Feb. 2023
His sense of humor occasionally got him in trouble; according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, he was fired from his administrative job after publishing a waggish column about teacher evaluations at the university, and taught for another year before retiring in 1990.
—Washington Post, 3 Sep. 2021
Recent Examples of Synonyms for waggish
Adjective
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Ferris Bueller is fun, mischievous, an expert on shortcuts.Matt Schubert, The Denver Post, 3 Nov. 2024
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Think of eventual 2015 winner Nadiya Hussain’s use of bubblegum and cream-soda flavors to signal her playful personality after weeks of doing poorly on Technicals; instead of letting that anxiety overwhelm her, Nadiya reset her persona with those mischievous eclairs.Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 1 Nov. 2024
Adjective
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Since the fourth generation was unveiled in 2016, annual sales have remained a mystery, a wicked downturn one year, a surprising surge in sales the next year.James Raia, The Mercury News, 3 Nov. 2024
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The sextet’s energy was palpable inside the Barclays from beginning to end, as the excited crowd with arms waving saw Dickinson roam the stage and twirl the mike stand; the intensity in his wicked singing had not diminished over the decades.David Chiu, Forbes, 3 Nov. 2024
Adjective
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Partners should do their best to research something novel and playful that piques both of their interest.Mark Travers, Forbes, 5 Nov. 2024
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The highlight for me was watching and listening closely to Joan Robinson (Post-Keynesian diva) duking it out with Frank Hahn (Neoclassical divo), in playful but serious jabs and thrusts.John Cassidy, The New Yorker, 2 Nov. 2024
Thesaurus Entries Near waggish
Cite this Entry
“Waggish.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/waggish. Accessed 17 Nov. 2024.
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