What it means
A troublemaker is the one who can't resist stirring things up, the kid at the back winding everyone up, the colleague who drops the awkward question just to watch the room squirm. Sometimes it's malicious, often it's just mischief, but wherever they go a little chaos tends to follow. Half the time they're grinning while everyone else groans.
Usage examples
"Sit him away from his mates, he's a right troublemaker when they're together."
"She got a reputation as a troublemaker just for asking the questions nobody else dared."
Where it comes from
A plain compound of trouble and maker, the person who makes the trouble. It's named the stirrer and the rabble-rouser since the 1500s.
Other ways to say it
Editors of this term
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