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All but one of the following words traces back to Latin prehendere, meaning "to seize." Which word doesn't belong?
apprehend - comprehend - misprision - misprize - prison - surprise
It's easy to see the prehendere connection in apprehend and comprehend, whereas you may be surprised that surprise is from prehendere (via Anglo-French susprendre, meaning "to capture" or "to take by surprise"). Prison, too, is from prehendere by way of Anglo-French. And misprision comes to us by way of Anglo-French mesprisun ("error, wrongdoing"), from mesprendre ("to take by mistake"), itself from prehendere. The only word that's out of place is misprize, meaning "to despise" or "to undervalue." It's ultimately from Latin pretium, meaning "value," but—in a trick move that perhaps only English could pull off—misprize has also given us a related noun meaning "contempt, scorn," in the form of an etymologically distinct misprision.
Examples of misprision in a Sentence
Julia Marnin, Miami Herald, 22 Oct. 2025
Sullivan had been convicted by a jury of obstruction of justice and misprision of felony.
—Heather Wishart-Smith, Forbes.com, 18 Aug. 2025
Bogard was later convicted of misprision of a felony in relation to the Tidwell case.
—Daniel McFadin, Arkansas Online, 28 Apr. 2025
The man and woman were arrested and charged with misprision of a felony but later bonded out.
—Saleen Martin, USA Today, 17 Apr. 2025
Other charges parents could face under the initiative include unlawful conduct, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, misprision, and obstruction.
—Kevin Lynn, Newsweek, 7 Jan. 2025
Kendall Mims and Victoria Tippett, who both lived in a pool house with the couple, were charged with accessory after the fact, obstruction of justice and misprision of a felony, according to police.
—Samira Asma-Sadeque, People.com, 9 Oct. 2024
Cite this Entry
“Misprision.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/misprision. Accessed 31 Oct. 2025.
Copy CitationLegal Definition
misprision
noun
Noun
Anglo-French, error, wrongdoing, from Old French, from mesprendre to make a mistake, from mes- wrongly + prendre to take, from Latin prehendere to seize
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