misprize

Meanings

verbmisprize (third-person singular simple present misprizes, present participle misprizing, simple past and past participle misprized)

present singular third person misprizes · participle present misprizing · participle past misprized · past misprized · alternative mesprise · alternative misprise

To despise or hold in contempt; to undervalue.First known use 15th c.
Nature neuer fram'd a womans heart, Of prowder stuffe then that of Beatrice: Disdaine and Scorne ride sparkling in her eyes, Mis-prizing what they looke on […]
1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]

nounmisprize (uncountable)

alternative mesprise · alternative misprise

obsoleterareuncountableContempt.First known use 16th–19th c.
He ment to make them know their follies prise, Had not those two him instantly desired T'asswage his wrath, and pardon their mesprise […].
1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC

Also see

From Middle French mespriser (verb), mespris (noun).

More words from Middle French

Cite this entry

APA

misprize. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/misprize

MLA

“misprize.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/misprize. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “misprize,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/misprize.

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