different between desperado vs miscreant

English

Etymology

From Spanish desperado, past participle of desperar, archaic form of desesperar (“to despair”), from Latin disperare (“to despair, to lose hope”), from prefix dis- + sperare (“to hope”). Doublet of desperate.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /d?sp?????d??/

Noun

desperado (plural desperadoes or desperados)

1. A bold outlaw, especially one from southern portions of the Wild West.
   • 1850, Thomas Carlyle, Latter-Day Pamphlets, The present time

     The kind of persons who excite or give signal to such revolutions — students, young men of letters […], or fierce and justly bankrupt desperadoes, acting everywhere on the discontent of the millions and blowing it into flame, — might give rise to reflections as to the character of our epoch.

   • 1918, Willa Cather, My Antonia, Mirado Modern Classics, paperback edition, page 6

     Surely this was the face of a desperado.

2. (colloquial) A person in desperate circumstances or who is at the point of desperation, such as a down-and-outer, an addict, etc.
   • 1981, Sam Grafstein, Dice Doctor

     The shortstops and desperados were not permitted to play in this marker crap game.

3. (colloquial) A person who is desperately in love or is desperate for a romantic or sexual relationship.
4. (chess) A piece that seems determined to give itself up, typically to bring about stalemate or perpetual check.

Translations

Anagrams

• dead-ropes

Cebuano

Etymology

Cebuanized form of English desperate, from Latin d?sp?r?tus, past participle of d?sp?r? (“to be without hope”). Spanish desperado is a false friend.

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: des?pe?ra?do

Adjective

desperado (feminine desperada)

1. in dire need of something
2. being filled with, or in a state of despair; hopeless
3. without regard to danger or safety; reckless; furious

Verb

desperado (feminine desperada)

1. to be in dire need of something
2. to be reckless due to desperation

Noun

desperado (feminine desperada)

1. a desperate male person

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:desperado.

Danish

Etymology

From Spanish desperado (“desperate person”), past participle of desperar, archaic form of desesperar (“to despair”)

Noun

desperado c (singular definite desperadoen, plural indefinite desperados or desperadoer)

1. desperado (outlaw)

Declension

See also

• desperat

References

• “desperado” in Den Danske Ordbog

French

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d?s.p?.?a.do/

Noun

desperado m (plural desperados)

1. desperado

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /despe??ado/, [d?es.pe??a.ð?o]

Adjective

desperado (feminine desperada, masculine plural desperados, feminine plural desperadas)

1. Obsolete form of desesperado.

Verb

desperado m (feminine singular desperada, masculine plural desperados, feminine plural desperadas)

1. Masculine singular past participle of desperar.

Further reading

• “desperado” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.

English

Alternative forms

• miscreaunt (obsolete)

Etymology

From Old French mescreant (1080) "mis-believer", present participle of mescreire "to misbelieve" (modern mécroire).

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) enPR: m?s?kr?-?nt, IPA^(key): /?m?s.k?i.?nt/

Adjective

miscreant (comparative more miscreant, superlative most miscreant)

1. Lacking in conscience or moral principles; unscrupulous.
2. (theology) Holding an incorrect religious belief.

Translations

Noun

miscreant (plural miscreants)

1. One who has behaved badly, or illegally.

   The teacher sent the miscreants to see the school principal.

2. One not restrained by moral principles; an unscrupulous villain.
   • a. 1719, Joseph Addison, A Riddle of Dean Swift's verfified

     A meagre Catchpole hurries me to fail; No Miscreant, so remorseless, ever tore
     Thy Journals, Fog, or knock'd at Franklin's door

3. (theology) One who holds a false religious belief; a misbeliever.

   • That hast with knightlesse guile and trecherous train

     Faire knighthood fowly shamed

   (Can we find and add a quotation of De Quincey to this entry?)

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:miscreant.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:troublemaker
• See also Thesaurus:villain

Translations

Anagrams

• Encratism, minecarts