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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Misdemeanor \Mis'de*mean"or\, noun
1. Ill behavior; evil conduct; fault. --Shak.
2. (Law) A crime less than a felony. --Wharton.
Note: As a rule, in the old English law, offenses capitally punishable were felonies; all other indictable offenses were misdemeanors. In common usage, the word crime is employed to denote the offenses of a deeper and more atrocious dye, while small faults and omissions of less consequence are comprised under the gentler name of misdemeanors. --Blackstone. The distinction, however, between felonies and misdemeanors is purely arbitrary, and is in most jurisdictions either abrogated or so far reduced as to be without practical value. Cf. {Felony}. --Wharton.
Syn: Misdeed; misconduct; misbehavior; fault; trespass; transgression.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
misdemeanor
noun: a crime less serious than a felony [syn: {misdemeanour}, {infraction}, {offence}, {offense}, {violation}, {infringement}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
88 Moby Thesaurus words for "misdemeanor": atrocity, badness, breach, crime, crime against humanity, criminal tendency, criminality, criminosis, deadly sin, delict, delinquency, dereliction, discourtesy, disorder, disorderliness, disorderly conduct, disruption, disruptiveness, enormity, error, evil, evil courses, evildoing, failure, fault, feloniousness, felony, frowned-upon behavior, genocide, guilty act, heavy sin, hooliganism, horseplay, illegality, impropriety, indiscretion, inexpiable sin, iniquity, injury, injustice, lapse, lawbreaking, malefaction, malfeasance, malpractice, malum, malversation, minor wrong, misbehavior, misconduct, misdeed, misdoing, misfeasance, misprision, misprision of treason, mortal sin, naughtiness, nonfeasance, nonsanctioned behavior, offense, omission, outrage, peccadillo, peccancy, positive misprision, roughhouse, rowdiness, rowdyism, ruffianism, sin, sin of commission, sin of omission, sinful act, slip, thou scarlet sin, tort, transgression, trespass, trip, unutterable sin, vandalism, venial sin, vice, viciousness, violation, wrong, wrong conduct, wrongdoing
From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:
MISDEMEANOR, noun An infraction of the law having less dignity than a felony and constituting no claim to admittance into the best criminal society.
By misdemeanors he essays to climb Into the aristocracy of crime. O, woe was him! -- with manner chill and grand "Captains of industry" refused his hand, "Kings of finance" denied him recognition And "railway magnates" jeered his low condition. He robbed a bank to make himself respected. They still rebuffed him, for he was detected. S.V. Hanipur
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