Webster
✕

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Misprision

Mis·pri′sion (·prĭzh′ŭn), n. [LL. misprisio, or OF. mesprison, prop., a mistaking, but confused with OF. mespris contempt, F. mépris. See 2d Misprise, Misprize, Prison.]

1. The act of misprising; misapprehension; misconception; mistake. [Archaic] Fuller.

The misprision of this passage has aided in fostering the delusive notion. Hare.

2. Neglect; undervaluing; contempt. [Obs.] Shak.

3. (Law) A neglect, negligence, or contempt.

☞ In its larger and older sense it was used to signify "every considerable misdemeanor which has not a certain name given to it in the law." Russell. In a more modern sense it is applied exclusively to two offenses: - - 1. Misprision of treason, which is omission to notify the authorities of an act of treason by a person cognizant thereof. Stephen. 2. Misprision of felony, which is a concealment of a felony by a person cognizant thereof. Stephen.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.