misprision

1 of 2

noun (1)

mis·​pri·​sion (ˌ)mis-ˈpri-zhən How to pronounce misprision (audio)
1
a
: neglect or wrong performance of official duty
b
: concealment of treason or felony by one who is not a participant in the treason or felony
c
: seditious conduct against the government or the courts
2

misprision

2 of 2

noun (2)

Did you know?

All but one of the following words traces back to Latin prehendere, meaning "to seize." Which word doesn't belong?

apprehend - comprehend - misprision - misprize - prison - surprise

It's easy to see the prehendere connection in apprehend and comprehend, whereas you may be surprised that surprise is from prehendere (via Anglo-French susprendre, meaning "to capture" or "to take by surprise"). Prison, too, is from prehendere by way of Anglo-French. And misprision comes to us by way of Anglo-French mesprisun ("error, wrongdoing"), from mesprendre ("to take by mistake"), itself from prehendere. The only word that's out of place is misprize, meaning "to despise" or "to undervalue." It's ultimately from Latin pretium, meaning "value," but—in a trick move that perhaps only English could pull off—misprize has also given us a related noun meaning "contempt, scorn," in the form of an etymologically distinct misprision.

Examples of misprision in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
Kendall Mims and Victoria Tippett, who both lived in a pool house with the couple, were charged with accessory after the fact, obstruction of justice and misprision of a felony, according to police. Samira Asma-Sadeque, People.com, 9 Oct. 2024 After pleading guilty to misprision of a felony, she was sentenced last October to 25 months in prison. Justin Muszynski, Hartford Courant, 5 Apr. 2024 Scott Finkbeiner, the sheriff of Hot Spring County who was indicted on federal charges of obstruction of justice and misprision of a felony last November, was arrested again Wednesday on new charges. Daniel McFadin, arkansasonline.com, 12 Apr. 2024 On June 27, Blanchard pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy and Frazier pleaded guilty to misprision of a felony. Kate Perez, USA TODAY, 6 July 2023 She was later convicted of misprision of a felony and sentenced to probation. Clare Hymes, CBS News, 15 Dec. 2021 The second, misprision of felony, was due to Sullivan’s concealment of the hack. Ananya Bhattacharya, Quartz, 5 May 2023 If convicted, Sullivan would face a maximum of five years in prison for the obstruction charge and three years for the misprision charge. Victoria Albert, CBS News, 20 Aug. 2020 Tuma, who frequently works with companies responding to data breaches, says that the more concerning conviction in terms of future precedent is the misprision of felony charge. WIRED, 8 Oct. 2022

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'misprision.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Noun (1)

Middle English, from Anglo-French mesprisun error, wrongdoing, from mesprendre to take by mistake, from mes- mis- + prendre to take, from Latin prehendere to seize — more at get

Noun (2)

misprize

First Known Use

Noun (1)

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Noun (2)

1592, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of misprision was in the 15th century

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Dictionary Entries Near misprision

Cite this Entry

“Misprision.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/misprision. Accessed 31 Oct. 2024.

Legal Definition

misprision

noun
mis·​pri·​sion mis-ˈpri-zhən How to pronounce misprision (audio)
1
: neglectful or wrongful performance of an official duty
2
: a clerical error in a legal proceeding that can be corrected in a summary proceeding
3
: the concealment of a treason or felony and failure to report it to the prosecuting authorities by a person who has not committed it
misprision of felony
misprision of treason
Etymology

Noun

Anglo-French, error, wrongdoing, from Old French, from mesprendre to make a mistake, from mes- wrongly + prendre to take, from Latin prehendere to seize

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