scalawags
Mischievous young rogues
Scalawags is typically used to describe mischievous or dishonest people, often with a tone of playful disapproval rather than genuine condemnation.
Those little scalawags got into the cookie jar again.
The word carries an old-fashioned, slightly theatrical quality.
In American history, scalawag specifically referred to white Southerners who supported Reconstruction after the Civil War—a term used disparagingly by opponents who viewed them as traitors to the South.
Outsiders exploiting local turmoil
- traitorsThose who commit disloyalty
- turncoatsThose who betray loyalties
- collaboratorsPeople who work jointly
- opportunistsThose exploiting any advantage
Lovable troublemaker
- pranksterSomeone who plays tricks
- impMinor mischief-making devil
- scampMischievous young person
- rapscallionMischievous person, usually endearing
urchin · troublemaker · hellion · gamin · misbehaving · naughty · cheeky · devilish
Dishonest, unscrupulous person
- rogueDishonest or uncontrolled agent
- knaveDishonest, unprincipled person
- blackguardContemptible, dishonest person
- ne'er-do-wellIrresponsible, idle person
reprobate · miscreant · wretch · cad · heel · good-for-nothing · lowlife · bad actor
carpetbaggers
Outsiders exploiting local turmoil
- traitorsThose who commit disloyalty
- turncoatsThose who betray loyalties
- collaboratorsPeople who work jointly
opportunists · profiteers · defectors · quislings · apostates
rascal
Lovable troublemaker
rapscallion · urchin · troublemaker · hellion · gamin · misbehaving · naughty · cheeky · devilish · puckish
scoundrel
Dishonest, unscrupulous person
- rogueDishonest or uncontrolled agent
- knaveDishonest, unprincipled person
- blackguardContemptible, dishonest person
ne'er-do-well · reprobate · miscreant · wretch · cad · heel · good-for-nothing · lowlife · bad actor · snake
swindler
Person who deceives for money
- conmanFraud who deceives for profit
- grifterPetty fraud perpetrator
- charlatanFaker claiming false expertise
cheat · hustler · trickster · deceiver · schemer · flimflammer · mountebank · sharper · scammer · huckster
- Reconstructionfreedmen, Freedmen's Bureau, Fourteenth Amendment, Fifteenth Amendment, carpetbaggers
- Civil War aftermath13th Amendment, 14th Amendment, freedmen, Reconstruction, sharecropping
- piracysoftware piracy, pirates, torrents, book piracy, buccaneers
- Reconstruction Southsharecropping, tenant farming, freedmen, Freedmen's Bureau, carpetbaggers
- Southern PoliticsDixiecrats, Jim Crow, poll tax, poll taxes, one-party rule
- Abolitionismabolitionists, abolitionist movement, anti-slavery, antislavery, abolitionism
scalawagssaints
Canonized religious figures
angels · straight arrows · do-gooders · innocents · paragons
scalawagsSouthern Democrats
Historically conservative regional faction