Dictionary

impishly en · ADV

Pronunciation

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Etymology

Etymology tree English impish Middle English -ly English -ly English impishly From impish + -ly.

Meanings

1. In an impish manner; mischievously.
   • She was one of those elfin, rather precocious little girls, quick coloured, with dark hair, naturally curling dusky hair that was sometimes astray over her eyes, and eyes that were sometimes impishly dark, and sometimes a clear brown yellow. 1908, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “Of Bladesover House, and My Mother; and the Constitution of Society”, in Tono-Bungay […], Toronto, Ont.: The Macmillan Company of Canada, Ltd., →OCLC, 1st book (The Days before Tono-Bungay was Invented), page 32:
   • Most of the crumbs drop on the red plush of the seat, and the woman sighs and tries to brush them away, but they leap up impishly and fall back on the plush. 1920, Sinclair Lewis, Main Street: The Story of Carol Kennicott, New York, N.Y.: Harcourt, Brace and Howe, →OCLC:
   • I looked at Josella. To my astonishment, she was grinning impishly. "What do you find funny about this?" I asked a trifle shortly. 1951, John Wyndham, The Day of the Triffids, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, published 1954, page 120:
   • In my favorite Meta A.I. ad, a woman tells her boyfriend that she’s excited to have him meet her parents — before impishly mentioning that her father is a thermodynamicist at NASA. […] 2025 June 25, Ismail Muhammad, “Why Does Every Commercial for A.I. Think You’re a Moron?”, in The New York Times Magazine, →ISSN, archived from the original on 25 Jun 2025:

Forms

Synonyms

puckishly