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
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
Later, they are recruited as seamstresses, as witnesses, as a bailiff and a miscreant.
From New York Times • Dec. 14, 2022
He spent more days in jail than the runaways he brought in, snoring in a cell next to the miscreant he had stopped hours earlier.
From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead
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.
