MISDEMEANOUR

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does misdemeanour mean? 

• MISDEMEANOUR (noun)
  The noun MISDEMEANOUR has 1 sense:

1. a crime less serious than a felony

  Familiarity information: MISDEMEANOUR used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MISDEMEANOUR (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A crime less serious than a felony

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

infraction; infringement; misdemeanor; misdemeanour; violation

Hypernyms ("misdemeanour" is a kind of...):

crime; criminal offence; criminal offense; law-breaking ((criminal law) an act punishable by law; usually considered an evil act)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "misdemeanour"):

breach of the peace; disorderly behavior; disorderly conduct; disturbance of the peace (any act of molesting, interrupting, hindering, agitating, or arousing from a state of repose or otherwise depriving inhabitants of the peace and quiet to which they are entitled)

false pretence; false pretense ((law) an offense involving intent to defraud and false representation and obtaining property as a result of that misrepresentation)

indecent exposure; public nudity (vulgar and offensive nakedness in a public place)

bearing false witness; lying under oath; perjury (criminal offense of making false statements under oath)

sedition (an illegal action inciting resistance to lawful authority and tending to cause the disruption or overthrow of the government)

 Context examples 

As you hope ever to be forgiven, Mr. Rivers, the high crime and misdemeanour of spoiling a sanded kitchen, tell me what I wish to know.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Though she was just as sharp that day as on the day before, and was in and out about the donkeys just as often, and was thrown into a tremendous state of indignation, when a young man, going by, ogled Janet at a window (which was one of the gravest misdemeanours that could be committed against my aunt's dignity), she seemed to me to command more of my respect, if not less of my fear.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)