Meaning & use

miscreant

noun·Advanced

A person who behaves badly or breaks the law; a villain or wrongdoer.

See it in a sentence

The old sheriff spent his whole career chasing miscreants out of town.

Security cameras caught the miscreants spray-painting the side of the school wall.

A note on using this word

Miscreant sounds somewhat old-fashioned today and is often used with light irony rather than deadly seriousness.

Words with a similar meaning

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