Archaic. holding a false or unorthodox religious belief; heretical.
noun
3.
a vicious or depraved person; villain.
4.
Archaic. a heretic or infidel.
Origin
1350-1400;Middle English < Middle Frenchmescreant unbelieving, equivalent to mes-mis-1 + creant ≪ Latincrēdent-credent
Examples from the web for miscreant
To the miscreants in my neighborhood: Turn your music down and get a job.
This way miscreant nations must clean up their own act.
Thou wert well-nigh, yea, even by the miscreant rout.
He expected the policeman to advance and seize the miscreant orator by the neck.
Occasionally, I turn and stare nastily at the miscreant.
Sophia's married to a miserable dishonest miscreant.
We don't actually get to see the paddle hitting the miscreant's hindquarters, but we hear it.
Yet you cannot trample the miscreant into silence with either truth or distortions.
But for the enterprising miscreant, spamming-based computer crime is a growth industry.
Medieval Paris often saw conflict between lay and clerical authority over miscreant students.
British Dictionary definitions for miscreant
miscreant
/ˈmɪskrɪənt/
noun
1.
a wrongdoer or villain
2.
(archaic) an unbeliever or heretic
adjective
3.
evil or villainous
4.
(archaic) unbelieving or heretical
Word Origin
C14: from Old French mescreant unbelieving, from mes-mis-1 + creant, ultimately from Latin credere to believe
Word Origin and History for miscreant
adj.
c.1300, "non-Christian, pagan, infidel;" early 15c., "heretical, unbelieving," from Old French mescreant "disbelieving" (Modern French mécréant), from mes- "wrongly" (see mis- (2)) + creant, present participle of creire "believe," from Latin credere (see credit). Meaning "villainous" is from 1590s.
n.
late 14c., "heathen, Saracen," from miscreant (adj.) or from Old French mescreant, which also had a noun sense of "infidel, pagan, heretic." Sense of "villain" first recorded 1590 in Spenser.