miscreant
English
WOTD – 27 April 2009
Alternative forms
- miscreaunt (obsolete)
Etymology
From Middle English myscreaunt, miscreaunt, from Old French mescreant (1080) "mis-believer", present participle of mescreire "to misbelieve" (modern mécroire).
Pronunciation
- (UK, US) enPR: mĭsʹkrē-ənt, IPA(key): /ˈmɪs.kɹi.ənt/
Audio (US) (file) Audio (AU) (file)
Adjective
miscreant (comparative more miscreant, superlative most miscreant)
- Lacking in conscience or moral principles; unscrupulous.
- (theology) Holding an incorrect religious belief.
Translations
lacking in conscience or moral principles; unscrupulous
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holding an incorrect religious belief
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Noun
miscreant (plural miscreants)
- One who has behaved badly, or illegally.
- 1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The life and death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene i], page 23, column 1–2:
- Thou art a Traitor, and a Miſcreant;
Too good to be ſo, and too bad to liue,
Since the more faire and chriſtall is the skie,
The vglier ſeeme the cloudes that in it flye:
- The teacher sent the miscreants to see the school principal.
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- One not restrained by moral principles; an unscrupulous villain.
- a. 1719, Joseph Addison, A Riddle of Dean Swift's verfified
- A meagre Catchpole hurries me to fail; No Miscreant, so remorseless, ever tore
Thy Journals, Fog, or knock'd at Franklin's door
- A meagre Catchpole hurries me to fail; No Miscreant, so remorseless, ever tore
- a. 1719, Joseph Addison, A Riddle of Dean Swift's verfified
- (theology) One who holds a false religious belief; a misbeliever.
- c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], part 1, 2nd edition, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, OCLC 932920499; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act III, scene iii:
- Now wil the Chriſtian miſcreants be glad,
Ringing with ioy their ſuperſtitious belles:
And making bonfires for my ouerthrow.
But ere I die thoſe foule Idolaters
Shall make me bonfires with their filthy bones, […]
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, OCLC 960102938, stanza 41:
- Arise thou cursed Miscreaunt,
That hast with knightlesse guile and trecherous train
Faire knighthood fowly shamed
- 1825, Thomas De Quincey, "The Love-charm", in Knight's Quarterly Magazine
- Before thine eyes, thou mild and blessed one, said he, half aloud, are these miscreants daring to hold their market, and trafficking in their hellish drugs
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Quotations
- For quotations using this term, see Citations:miscreant.
Synonyms
- See also Thesaurus:troublemaker
- See also Thesaurus:villain
Translations
one who has behaved badly or illegally
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one not restrained by moral principles
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one who holds a false religious belief; an unbeliever
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Anagrams
- Encratism, minecarts