misdemeanour

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A form of misdemeanor — A lesser criminal act in most common law legal systems, generally punished less severely than a felony.

Similar
misdemeanorinfractionviolationinfringement
OriginEnglish demeanour ← Middle English mys- ← Old English mis- →
UncommonScrabble 17
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Meanings

nounmisdemeanour (plural misdemeanours)

plural misdemeanours

  1. UKalternativeAlternative form of misdemeanor.

    Therefore, welcome new Secretary of State for Transport Mark Harper, a man about whom even my esteemed political journalist friends know little - apart from the fact he was once Chief Whip, a job that requires knowing about every Tory MP's misdemeanours.

    2022 November 16, Christian Wolmar, “Can Merriman use his rail knowledge to make a difference?”, in RAIL, number 970, page 44

Synonyms & antonyms

nouna crime less serious than a felony

Similar
misdemeanorinfractionviolationinfringement
Broader
crimecriminal offensecriminal offence
Also see
infractioninfringementmisdemeanorviolation

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*mey-?
  2. Proto-Indo-European*meyth₂-
  3. Proto-Germanic*missaz
  4. Proto-Germanic*missa-
  5. Proto-West Germanic*missa-
  6. Old Englishmis-
  7. Middle Englishmys-
  8. Englishmis-
  9. Englishdemeanour
  10. Englishmisdemeanour

From mis- + demeanour.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

misdemeanour. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/misdemeanour

MLA

“misdemeanour.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/misdemeanour. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “misdemeanour,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/misdemeanour.

Source: misdemeanour on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.