mischief

Universal Words noun [U] 1 bad behaviour (especially of children) that is annoying but does not cause any serious damage or harm: Those children are always getting into mischief. * I try to keep out of mischief. * It's very quiet upstairs; they must be up to some mischief! 2 the wish or tendency to behave or play in a way that causes trouble: Her eyes were full of mischief. 3 (formal) harm or injury that is done to sb or to their reputation: The incident caused a great deal of political mischief. IDIOMS do yourself a mischief (BrE, informal) to hurt yourself physically: Watch how you use those scissors-you could do yourself a mischief! make mischief to do or say sth deliberately to upset other people, or cause trouble between them