misprision

1 of 2

noun (1)

mis·​pri·​sion (ˌ)mis-ˈpri-zhən 

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

: misunderstanding, misinterpretation

misprision

2 of 2

noun (2)

: contempt, scorn

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

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

In September, Munns pleaded guilty to misprision of a felony — or not reporting a crime — and was sentenced to four years. —Tribune News Service, oregonlive, 19 Dec. 2021

Joseph Sullivan has been charged with obstruction of justice and misprision of a felony, which refers to concealing knowledge of a felony from law enforcement officials. —Victoria Albert, CBS News, 20 Aug. 2020

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

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Legal Definition

misprision

noun

mis·​pri·​sion mis-ˈpri-zhən 

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