misdeed means that which was done that should not have been, ranging from any sin or moral offense to various degrees of crime. It carries an Arena rating of 1441, earned across 6 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, misdeed ranks #1,609 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words, #2,595 of 17,131 for Scariest Words, #2,710 of 42,752 for Qualifying, #3,450 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books.
misdeed is pronounced /mɪsˈdiːd/.
Why “misdeed” is a great word
An immoral, improper, or illegal act; a wrongdoing. From Middle English misdede, from Old English misdǣd, from Proto-West Germanic *missadādi, from Proto-Germanic *missadēdiz, equivalent to the prefix mis- ("badly, wrongly") + deed ("act, action"). Unlike "misdemeanor," which denotes a specific minor legal offense, or "transgression," which implies a crossing of some divine or social boundary, "misdeed" is unmoored from legal precision, belonging instead to the quiet reckonings of conscience. It is the petty theft that leaves a sour taste, the lie that lingers in the throat, the withheld hand when help was asked—a quiet, private ledger of the soul's failings, condemned not by statute but by the weight of a pulse in the dark.
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”).
noun
- That which was done that should not have been, ranging from any sin or moral offense to various degrees of crime.e.g.“The petty misdeeds of his youth came back to haunt him when he ran for political office and his character was smeared.”
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.