Misdeed
noun ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 That which was done that should not have been, ranging from any sin or moral offense to various degrees of crime.
"The petty misdeeds of his youth came back to haunt him when he ran for political office and his character was smeared."
- 2 improper or wicked or immoral behavior wordnet
Example
More examples"The petty misdeeds of his youth came back to haunt him when he ran for political office and his character was smeared."
Etymology
From Middle English misdede, from Old English misdǣd (“misdeed”), from Proto-West Germanic *missadādi, from Proto-Germanic *missadēdiz (“misdeed”); equivalent to mis- + deed. Cognate with Scots misded (“misdeed”), West Frisian misdied (“misdeed”), Dutch misdaad (“misdeed”), German Missetat (“misdeed”), Swedish missdåd (“misdeed”), Gothic 𐌼𐌹𐍃𐍃𐌰𐌳𐌴𐌸𐍃 (missadēþs, “misdeed”).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.