disorderly conduct

noun

: a petty offense chiefly against public order and decency that falls short of an indictable misdemeanor

Examples of disorderly conduct in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Criminal court records reviewed by PEOPLE show the 35-year-old faces charges of public intoxication, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and a false report. —Colson Thayer, PEOPLE, 27 Sep. 2025

At that time he was found guilty of five of six counts of felony disorderly conduct and making four false police reports. —Gil Kaufman, Billboard, 26 Sep. 2025

Richardson has prior arrests and convictions in Alabama for domestic violence, disorderly conduct and failing to appear in court dating back to March 2011, Manley said. —City News Service, Oc Register, 26 Sep. 2025

Tierney was also charged on suspicion of two class 1 misdemeanors — disorderly conduct plus threatening and intimidating causing public inconvenience, police said. —Jose R. Gonzalez, AZCentral.com, 25 Sep. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1786, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for disorderly conduct

• abduct
• construct
• deduct
• destruct
• induct
• instruct
• obstruct
• aqueduct
• deconstruct
• reconstruct
• bucked
• chucked

Legal Definition

disorderly conduct

noun

dis·​or·​der·​ly conduct

: conduct that is likely to lead to a disturbance of the public peace or that offends public decency

also : the petty offense of engaging in disorderly conduct compare breach of the peace

Note: The term disorderly conduct is used in statutes to identify various acts against the public peace. It has been held to include the use of obscene language in public, the blocking of public ways, and the making of threats. A statute must identify acts that constitute disorderly conduct with sufficient clarity in order to avoid being held unconstitutional because of vagueness.