DictionaryAI

miscreant

MIS-kree-uhnt/ˈmɪs.kɹi.ənt/

Pluralmiscreants

5 meanings of miscreant

Practice

  1. 1
    offendernouncountable
    A person who has behaved badly or broken the law, sometimes a thoroughly unscrupulous villain.

    Police are still looking for the miscreants who spray-painted the bridge.

    The principal gave each miscreant a week of detention for starting the food fight.

    UsageOften said with mock seriousness about small offenders such as vandals or pranksters; in a serious context it can mean a real villain.

    Similarwrongdoer, culprit, troublemaker, villain, offender

    Note

    It once carried full weight: in Shakespeare's Richard II, traitor and miscreant are hurled together as one accusation. It can still name a real villain, someone with no scruples at all, when the context is serious.

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • Richard II is a play by William Shakespeare. gutenberg.org
    • In Richard II, Bolingbroke seriously accuses Thomas Mowbray of being both a traitor and a miscreant. gutenberg.org
  2. 2
    adjective
    Misbehaving or flouting rules, often more from mischief or rowdiness than real wickedness.

    A few miscreant fans set off fireworks in the stands during the final.

    The coach benched the two miscreant players who skipped practice.

    UsageUsually before a noun (miscreant fans, a miscreant puppy), often with playful mock severity for small misbehavior.

    Similarunruly, rowdy, mischievous, disobedient

    Oppositewell-behaved, obedient

    Note

    Context decides the weight, so if real wickedness is meant, the "unscrupulous" meaning is the one a reader will hear.

  3. 3
    adjective
    Without conscience or moral principles; acting with no scruples about right and wrong.

    A few miscreant officials took bribes and looked the other way.

    The company fired the miscreant manager who had faked the safety reports.

    Similarunscrupulous, corrupt, villainous, wicked, dishonest

    Oppositehonest, upright, scrupulous

Less common meanings

  1. 4
    nounarchaiccountable
    A person who holds a false or mistaken religious belief.

    The crusaders swore to drive the miscreants from the holy city.

    The preacher warned that every miscreant who rejected the true faith would face judgment.

    Similarheretic, infidel, unbeliever, heathen

    Oppositebeliever

    Note

    The label was thrown across religious lines rather than kept for one side: in Marlowe's Tamburlaine it is the Christians who are the "miscreants", mocked for their "superstitious bells". The word always speaks from inside one faith about another, so it is a charge, never a neutral description of someone's religion.

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • The religious label was used across religious lines, including by Christians about non-Christians. dev.gutenberg.org
    • Christopher Marlowe wrote Tamburlaine. gutenberg.org
    • In the play, Bajazeth calls Christians miscreants and describes their bells as superstitious; both quoted expressions are accurate. gutenberg.org
  2. 5
    adjectivearchaic
    Holding a religious belief that is incorrect.

    Similarheretical, unbelieving

    Oppositeorthodox

    Note

    This is the word's first meaning: Old French mescreant was a "misbeliever", the present participle of mescreire, "to misbelieve". The moral sense, the "unscrupulous" meaning, grew out of it, as wrong belief came to stand for wrong conduct, and the noun followed the same path from misbeliever to villain.

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • The religious meaning preceded the moral meaning. gutenberg.org
    • Old French mescreant meant misbeliever and was the present participle of mescreire, meaning to misbelieve. en.wiktionary.org
    • The moral meaning developed from the religious meaning through an association between wrong belief and wrong conduct. dev.gutenberg.org
    • The noun likewise developed from misbeliever to a person considered morally wicked. gutenberg.org

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of miscreant apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origin

Its ancestor is the Old French verb mescreire, "to misbelieve" (today mécroire). The present participle of that verb, mescreant, meant a "mis-believer", and English adopted it in the Middle English period as myscreaunt or miscreaunt.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

  • Miscreant derives ultimately from Old French mescreire, meaning "to misbelieve". en.wiktionary.org
  • The modern French form of the verb is mécroire. en.wiktionary.org
  • Mescreant was the verb's present participle and meant a misbeliever. en.wiktionary.org
  • English borrowed the word from Old French during the Middle English period, with the spellings myscreaunt and miscreaunt. en.wiktionary.org