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.
Dustin is an inveterate miscreant who blows town for the Army.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 17, 2025
This is something that the office has been putting their resources into and holding miscreant executives’ feet to the fire.
From Slate • Oct. 2, 2023
Bethany: I may have HAHA’d through our open car windows as we passed by this miscreant.
From Seattle Times • Jul. 22, 2023
The last point was the subject of a recent Federal Insider column about an inspector general’s finding that BOP policy “emboldens miscreant staff members” who believe they can “act without fear of disciplinary consequences.”
From Washington Post • Nov. 17, 2022
Still my position was a distinguished one, and I was not at all dissatisfied with it, until Fate threw me in the way of that unlimited miscreant, Trabb’s boy.
From "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens
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.
