Word.ws English Dictionary

rascally

rascally adjective: like a rascal.

Adjective

rascally (comparative rascallier, superlative rascalliest)

  1. Like a rascal.
    • He was speedily reassured, and with a large, white, rascally grin, and a glance at his charge, seemed to take me into partnership in his exalted trust.1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 205
    • My chief creditor is, unhappily, my most bitter enemy—a rascally fellow, Sam Brewer, whom I was once compelled to horse-whip on Newmarket Heath.1927 March 5, Arthur Conan Doyle, “The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place”, in The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes, New York, N.Y.: A[lbert] L[evi] Burt Company, published June 1927, →OCLC, page 298

Adverb

rascally (comparative more rascally, superlative most rascally)

  1. In the manner of a rascal.
    • “I hope,” said Jones, “you don’t intend to leave me in this condition.” “Indeed but I shall,” said the other. “Then,” said Jones, “you have used me rascally, and I will not pay you a farthing.”1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC

Forms of rascally

Adjective
comparativerascallier
superlativerascalliest
Adverb
comparativemore rascally
superlativemost rascally

Origin of rascally

From rascal + -y.

Questions about rascally

What does rascally mean?
Rascally means like a rascal.
What part of speech is rascally?
Rascally can be an adjective or an adverb.

Words near rascally in the dictionary

  1. rascalliest
  2. rascallike
  3. rascallion
  4. rascallions
  5. rascalls
  6. rascally
  7. rascalries
  8. rascalry
  9. rascals
  10. rascalship
  11. rascasse

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: rascally (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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