misdemeanour
noun
Simple meaning
A crime less serious than a felony.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
mihsduhmeenerSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
mɪsdəˈminɚ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
British spelling
A crime less serious than a felony
British spelling
A lesser criminal act in most common law legal systems, generally punished less severely than a felony.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Typical Use
- Rare
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
This meaning: A crime less serious than a felony
Used this way, misdemeanour is a word tied to one variety of English with a faintly unfavourable edge. Most speakers understand it but seldom reach for it.
- Emotional tone
- Slightly negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Regional
- Connotation
- Critical or judgemental
- Usage feel
- Uncommon in everyday speech
Usage note
Mainly used in British English, so it may read as unusual elsewhere.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.