knavery

/ˈneɪvəri/

Other forms: knaveries

The quality of acting like a villain or a rascal is knavery. You'll know that knavery happened last night if you wake to find toilet paper strung from the branches of your trees.

The noun knavery comes from knave, an old-fashioned word meaning "rascal or rogue." Shakespeare was especially famous for using knave as an insult, and knavery reflects this sense of a foolish and terrible person who's up to no good. Dirty political tricks can be called knavery, as can rascally practical jokes, and even wickedness, dishonesty, and cruelty.

Definitions of knavery

1. noun

   lack of honesty; acts of lying or cheating or stealing
   synonyms: dishonesty

   types:

   betrayal, perfidy, treachery, treason

   an act of deliberate betrayal

   charlatanism, quackery

   the dishonesty of a charlatan

   trick

   an attempt to get you to do something foolish or imprudent

   falsehood, falsification

   the act of rendering something false as by fraudulent changes (of documents or measures etc.) or counterfeiting

   double cross, double-crossing

   an act of betrayal

   sellout

   an act of betrayal

   frame-up, setup

   an act that incriminates someone on a false charge

   sophistication

   falsification by the use of sophistry; misleading by means of specious fallacies

   forgery

   criminal falsification by making or altering an instrument with intent to defraud

   type of:

   actus reus, misconduct, wrongdoing, wrongful conduct

   activity that transgresses moral or civil law