devilish

1. 1.

   showing the cunning or ingenuity or wickedness typical of a devil

   “devilish schemes”

   “the cold calculation and diabolic art of some statesmen”

   “the diabolical expression on his face”

   “a mephistophelian glint in his eye”

   Synonymsdiabolicdiabolicalmephistophelianmephistophelean

   Similarevil
2. 2.

   playful in an appealingly bold way

   “a roguish grin”

   Synonymsrascallyroguish

   Similarplayful

1. 1.

   in a playfully devilish manner

   “the socialists are further handicapped if they believe that capitalists are not only wicked but also devilishly clever”

   Synonymsdevilishly

Other forms of devilish

comparative

devilisher·

superlative

devilishest·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about devilish

What does devilish mean?

devilish means "showing the cunning or ingenuity or wickedness typical of a devil". That is the primary sense; the word has 3 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in devilish?

devilish has 2 syllables: devil-ish. The stress falls on "devil". In IPA it is /ˈdɛvlɪʃ/.

What is another word for devilish?

Close synonyms include diabolic, diabolical, mephistophelian, mephistophelean, rascally. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is devilish a common word?

devilish is banded "Familiar" — widely understood, used when the subject calls for it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.