misprision
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misprision¹
- /ˌmɪsˈpɹɪʒn̩/ UK
- /ˌmɪsˈpɹɪʒ(ə)n/ US
Rhymes with -ɪʒən
Where it comes from
From Late Middle English misprision, mesprision (“criminal offence or illegal action, especially one committed by a public official”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman misprision, mesprision, mesprison (“criminal offence or illegal action; error, mistake, specifically an error by a court”) [and other forms] (whence Late Latin mesprisio, misprisio), and Old French mesprison, from mespris (“contempt, disdain”) (modern French mépris) + -ion (suffix indicating a condition or state). Mespris is the past participle of mesprendre (“to misunderstand”), from mes- (prefix meaning ‘badly; wrongly’) + prendre (“to take”) (from Latin prēndere, the present active infinitive of prēndō, a variant of prehendō (“to seize, take”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʰed- (“to find; to seize, take; to hold”)).
noun misprisions · missprision
- Criminal neglect or wrongful execution of duty, especially by a public official; (countable) a specific instance of this. [I]f any persone were perceiued to be absent, or were sene to laughe at the folye of the emperour [Nero], he was forthe with accused, as it were, of missprision: whereby the emperour founde occasion to committe him to prison or to put hym to tortures.
- In full misprision of felony or misprision of treason: originally, a less serious form of felony or treason; later, the crime of (intentionally) failing to give information about a felony or treason that one knows about; (countable) an instance of this. misprision of heresy
- Misinterpretation or misunderstanding; (countable) an instance of this; a mistake. A Feuer in your blood vvhy then inciſion VVould let her out in Savvcers, ſvveete miſpriſon.^([sic])
- Incorrect or unfair suspicion; (countable) an instance of this.
misprision²
- /ˌmɪsˈpɹɪʒn̩/ UK
- /ˌmɪsˈpɹɪʒ(ə)n/ US
Rhymes with -ɪʒən
Where it comes from
From misprize (“to despise or hold in contempt; to undervalue”) + -ion (suffix indicating a condition or state), probably influenced by misprision (etymology 1). Misprize is derived from Middle English mesprise, mespryse, from Anglo-Norman mespriser, Middle French mespriser, and Old French mesprisier, mesproisier (“to disdain, scorn; to despise, hate”) (modern French mépriser), from mes- (prefix meaning ‘badly; wrongly’) + priser, prisier (“to appraise, value”) (from Late Latin pretiāre, the present active infinitive of pretiō (“to consider valuable, esteem, prize, value”), Medieval Latin pretiō (“to appraise, assess, value”), from Latin pretium (“cost, price; value, worth”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“before; in front; first”)) + -ō (suffix forming regular first-conjugation verbs)).
noun
-
Despising or holding in contempt; disdain, scorn.
Heere, take her hand, / Proud ſcornful boy, vnworthie this good gift, / That doſt in vile miſpriſion ſhackle vp / My loue, and her deſert: […]
Similar: misprisal, misprizement, misprizing
-
Not seeing the value in something; undervaluing.
Similar: misprizing
Translations
Every language
noun criminal neglect or wrongful execution of duty, especially by a public official; a specific instance of this
| 中文 | 瀆職 /渎职 dúzhí |
|---|
noun less serious form of felony or treason; the crime of (intentionally) failing to give information about a felony or treason that one knows about; an instance of
| Русский | укрыва́тельство ukryvátelʹstvo |
|---|
noun misinterpretation or misunderstanding; an instance of this — see also misinterpretation, mistake, misunderstanding
| Français | méprise |
|---|---|
| Русский | оши́бка ošíbka, недооце́нка nedoocénka, оши́бочная оце́нка ošíbočnaja océnka |
Talk about this word "misprision." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/misprision. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. misprision. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/misprision "misprision." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/misprision.Cite this
@misc{misprision_2026,
title = {misprision},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/misprision},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
