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Mischief vs Havoc - What's the difference?

mischief | havoc |

As nouns the difference between mischief and havoc

is that mischief is harm or evil caused by an agent or brought about by a particular cause while havoc is widespread devastation, destruction.

As a verb havoc is

to pillage.

As an interjection havoc is

a cry in war as the signal for indiscriminate slaughter.

mischief

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • Harm or evil caused by an agent or brought about by a particular cause.
  • One who causes mischief. In a milder sense, one who causes petty annoyances. mischief-maker.
  • Vexatious or annoying conduct.

    • Quotations

    * 1914–1915' "I fear this means that there is some '''mischief afoot." — Sherlock Holmes in ''.

    Synonyms

    * (evil) agitation, annoyance, corruption, damage, demolition, destruction, detriment, disablement, disruption, evil, harm, hurt, ill, impairment, incapacitation, injury, nuisance, pique, ravage, sabotage, scathe, trouble, undoing, unmaking, vexation, weakening, wrong * (mischief-maker) bad boy, booger, buffoon, bugger, cutup, devil, elf, enfant terrible, fun-maker, hell-raiser, hood, hoodlum, hooligan, imp, joker, jokester, knave, life of the party, little devil, little monkey, little rascal, minx, mischief-maker, pixie, practical joker, prankster, puck, rapscallion, rascal, rogue, rowdy, ruffian, scamp, scapegrace, thug, trouble maker, vandal, wag * (annoying conduct) bad manners, badness, delinquincy, devilishness, devilment, devilry, deviltry, disobedience, elfishness, goings-on, hanky-panky, impishness, impropriety, misbehavior, mischievousness, misconduct, misdemeanor, monkey business, naughtiness, prankishness, pranksomeness, puckishness, rascality, roguery, roguishness, scampishness * See also * See also

    Derived terms

    * malicious mischief * mischievous * mischievously * mischievousness * mischief-maker

    havoc

    English

    Alternative forms

    * havock (e.g. in Milton)

    Noun

    (en-noun)
  • widespread devastation, destruction
  • * Bible, Acts viii. 3
    • As for Saul, he made havoc of the church.
  • * Addison
    • Ye gods, what havoc does ambition make / Among your works!
  • :* {{quote-book
    • , year=1918 , year_published=2008 , edition=HTML , editor= , author=Edgar Rice Burroughs , title=The People that Time Forgot , chapter= citation , genre= , publisher=The Gutenberg Project , isbn= , page= , passage=But when I had come to that part of the city which I judged to have contained the relics I sought I found havoc that had been wrought there even greater than elsewhere. }}
  • mayhem

    • Usage notes

    The noun havoc is most often used in the set phrase wreak havoc. Old Hungarian Goulash?, The Grammarphobia Blog, October 31, 2008

    Derived terms

    * play havoc, raise havoc, wreak havoc, cry havoc, break havoc

    Verb

  • To pillage.
  • * 1599 , , Henry V , Act I, Scene II:
    • To tear and havoc more than she can eat.
  • To cause .

    • Usage notes

    As with other verbs ending in vowel + -c, The gerund-participle is sometimes spelled havocing, and the preterite and past participle is sometimes spelled havoced; for citations using these spellings, see their respective entries. However, the spellings havocking and havocked are far more common. Compare panic, picnic.

    References

    Interjection

    (en interjection)
  • A cry in war as the signal for indiscriminate slaughter.
  • * Toone
    • Do not cry havoc , where you should but hunt / With modest warrant.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Cry "havoc", and let slip the dogs of war!