miscreant
Americanadjective
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depraved, villainous, or base.
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Archaic. holding a false or unorthodox religious belief; heretical.
noun
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a vicious or depraved person; villain.
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Archaic. a heretic or infidel.
noun
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a wrongdoer or villain
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archaic an unbeliever or heretic
adjective
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evil or villainous
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archaic unbelieving or heretical
Etymology
Origin of miscreant
1350–1400; Middle English < Middle French mescreant unbelieving, equivalent to mes- mis- 1 + creant ≪ Latin crēdent- credent
Explanation
A miscreant is a person who behaves badly — who lies, breaks the law, yells at puppies. It's a somewhat old-fashioned word, popular with old ladies shocked at having their purses stolen at the opera. Words like miscreant, scoundrel, and good-for-nothing are used to condemn people believed to be improper or even evil. If your mom warns you that your friends are a bunch of miscreants, she's concerned that you're hanging out with the wrong kind of crowd and that you might be headed for trouble.
Vocabulary lists containing miscreant
Believe It or Not: Cred
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Antigone
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Scrooge, Grinch, and Churl: Wonderful Words for Unpleasant People
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
As the pair, encased in costumes that make them look like unhappy 16th-century jousters, tackle an embarrassingly small number of Miscreants, a plot of sorts emerges.
From New York Times • Apr. 9, 2021
Miscreants know that messages that trigger strong emotions get shared the most.
From Nature • Jun. 16, 2020
Had I been as abandon’d as some Miscreants are, I had like them been happy.
From Zadig Or, The Book of Fate by Voltaire
Miscreants of sorts themselves, as I now knew, they became immensely interested.
From The Four Faces A Mystery by Le Queux, William
Captain, You're right; their Insolence is such As beats my Patience; cursed Miscreants!
From Ponteach The Savages of America by Moses, Montrose Jonas
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
