misdemeanor
mis·de·mean·or/ˌmɪsdɪˈmiːnə(ɹ)/noun
misdemeanor is spelled M-I-S-D-E-M-E-A-N-O-R, 4 syllables: mis·de·mean·or. The wrong spelling people search most is misdemenor: about 50 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 65 of all searches for the word. Misdemeanor is a noun meaning “A lesser criminal act in most common law legal systems, generally punished less severely than a felony”. The plural of misdemeanor is misdemeanors.
How many letters and syllables are in misdemeanor?
| Letters | 11: M-I-S-D-E-M-E-A-N-O-R |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4: mis·de·mean·or |
| In writing | 2.4 times per million words; the 17,587th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 2; the most searched, misdemenor, about 50 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How do you spell misdemeanor?
Misdemeanor is spelled M-I-S-D-E-M-E-A-N-O-R. 2 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 47 of the searches for misdemeanor in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is misdemeanor?
Misdemeanor appears 2.4 times per million words in written English, the 17,587th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce misdemeanor?
- UK /ˌmɪsdɪˈmiːnə(ɹ)/
Misdemeanor has 4 syllables, split mis·de·mean·or in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-misdemeanor.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with misdemeanor
Also written: misdemeanour.
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with misdemeanor?
6 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as misdemeanor from its last stressed vowel (/inə/, British pronunciation):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of misdemeanor
- misdemeanors plural
- misdemeanour
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does misdemeanor mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
USA lesser criminal act in most common law legal systems, generally punished less severely than a felony.
He was charged with a misdemeanor rather than a felony.
- 2
USAny act of misbehavior.
petty misdemeanor
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Misdemeanor in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense small crime:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | forfait, délit |
| German | Vergehen |
| Portuguese | contravenção |
| Spanish | contravención, falta, mala conducta |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does misdemeanor come from?
From mis- + demeanor.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).