mis·cre·ant

(mĭs′krē-ənt)

1. One who behaves badly, often by breaking rules of conduct or the law.

2. Archaic One who does not believe in a certain religion; an infidel or heretic.

[Middle English miscreaunt, heretic, from Old French mescreant, present participle of mescroire, to disbelieve : mes-, wrongly, not; see mis-¹ + croire, to believe (from Latin crēdere; see kerd- in Indo-European roots).]

mis′cre·ant adj.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

miscreant

(ˈmɪskrɪənt)

1. a wrongdoer or villain

2. (Ecclesiastical Terms) archaic an unbeliever or heretic

adj

3. evil or villainous

4. (Ecclesiastical Terms) archaic unbelieving or heretical

[C14: from Old French mescreant unbelieving, from mes- mis-¹ + creant, ultimately from Latin credere to believe]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

mis•cre•ant

(ˈmɪs kri ənt)

adj.

1. depraved; villainous.

2. heretical.

3. a vicious or depraved person.

4. heretic; infidel.

[1350–1400; Middle English < Middle French mescreant unbelieving =mes- mis-¹ + creant « Latin crēdentem, derivative present participle of crēdere to believe]

mis′cre•an•cy, n.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

miscreant - a person without moral scruples

reprobate

offender, wrongdoer - a person who transgresses moral or civil law

degenerate, deviant, deviate, pervert - a person whose behavior deviates from what is acceptable especially in sexual behavior

black sheep, scapegrace - a reckless and unprincipled reprobate

wretch - performs some wicked deed

miscreant

noun

1. wrongdoer, criminal, villain, rogue, sinner, rascal, scoundrel, scally (Northwest English dialect), vagabond, knave (archaic), reprobate, malefactor, blackguard, evildoer, caitiff (archaic), skelm (S. African) Local people demanded that the magistrate apprehend the miscreants.

adjective

1. criminal, corrupt, evil, vicious, wicked, depraved, rascally, reprehensible, scoundrelly, villainous, unprincipled, nefarious, iniquitous, reprobate They can force miscreant firms to cease trading.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

miscreant

adjective

Utterly reprehensible in nature or behavior:

corrupt, degenerate, depraved, flagitious, perverse, rotten, unhealthy, villainous.

Translations

kacířkacířskýnevěrecničemaničemný

criminale

miscreant

[ˈmɪskrɪənt] N → sinvergüenza mf, bellaco/a m/f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

miscreant

n (old) → Bösewicht m (old), → Schurke m

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

But for the miscreant exile who returned Minded in flames and ashes to blot out His father's city and his father's gods, And glut his vengeance with his kinsmen's blood, Or drag them captive at his chariot wheels-- For Polyneices 'tis ordained that none Shall give him burial or make mourn for him, But leave his corpse unburied, to be meat For dogs and carrion crows, a ghastly sight.

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They returned haughtily, that all the country reverenced the great Cham Chi-Thaungu, who dwelt in the sun, and no mortal would have dared to offer violence to his image but some Christian miscreant; and they therefore resolved to denounce war against him and all the Russians, who, they said, were miscreants and Christians.

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For a whole week he was not able to sleep well, so much the villainy which he had played upon his trusting mother preyed upon his rag of conscience; but after that he began to get comfortable again, and was presently able to sleep like any other miscreant.

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I told you to take that loping miscreant under the line of white point; now, if your bullet went a hair's breadth it went two inches above it.

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Stuart gave the word, when Ben Jones leveled his rifle, and shot the miscreant on the spot.

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And when he had finished and still stood alive and whole, their wavering impulse to break their oath and save the poor betrayed prisoner's life faded and vanished away, for plainly this miscreant had sold himself to Satan and it would be fatal to meddle with the property of such a power as that.

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These, in their turn, cursed back at the blind miscreant, threatened him in horrid terms, and tried in vain to catch the stick and wrest it from his grasp.

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"Base Miscreant! (cried I) how canst thou thus undauntedly endeavour to sully the spotless reputation of such bright Excellence?

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Simon Nishikanta was fiendish in his descriptions of whatever miscreant had done the deed and of how he should be made to suffer for it, while Grimshaw clenched and repeatedly clenched his great hands as if throttling some throat.

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"Honour, if you die for it!" returned the miscreant, holding up a hand in affected horror at so treacherous a threat.

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Moncharmin's last phrase so dearly expressed the suspicion in which he now held his partner that it was bound to cause a stormy explanation, at the end of which it was agreed that Richard should yield to all Moncharmin's wishes, with the object of helping him to discover the miscreant who was victimizing them.

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"WORTHY OF IMITATION.--A distinguished gentleman of this city, H H , Esquire, having been compelled to SUSPEND, in consequence of the late robbery of the Bank of the United States by the cold-blooded miscreant whose hoary head disgraces the White House, felt himself bound to return an article of dress, purchased as recently as yesterday by his lovely daughter, and who, in every respect, was entitled to wear it, as she would have adorned it, receiving back the price, with a view to put it in the fund he is already collecting to meet the demands of his creditors.

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