different between misdemeanor vs trespass

English

Alternative forms

• misdemeanour (UK)

Etymology

mis- +? demeanor

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?m?sd??mi?n?(?)/
• Hyphenation: mis?de?mean?or

Noun

misdemeanor (plural misdemeanors) (American spelling)

1. (law, US) A crime usually punishable upon conviction by a small fine or by a short term of imprisonment. In the USA, misdemeanants usually are incarcerated in county jail for less than one year, but felons usually are incarcerated in state or federal prison for more than one year. Crimes which are punishable by large fines or by longer imprisonment are sometimes called felonies.

Derived terms

• misdemeanant
• misdemeanorize

Synonyms

• petty crime

Translations

See also

• felony (more serious crime)

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: tr?s'p?s, IPA^(key): /?t??sp?s/
• (US) enPR: tr?s'p?s, IPA^(key): /?t??spæs/

Etymology 1

Borrowed into Middle English from Old French trespas (“passage; offense against the law”), from trespasser.

Noun

trespass (countable and uncountable, plural trespasses)

1. (law) An intentional interference with another's property or person.
2. (archaic) sin

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Old French trespasser (“to go across or over, transgress”), from tres- (“across, over”) + passer (“to pass”).

Verb

trespass (third-person singular simple present trespasses, present participle trespassing, simple past and past participle trespassed)

1. (intransitive, now rare) To commit an offence; to sin.

   Synonym: transgress

   • In the time of his distress did he trespass yet more against the Lord.

2. (transitive, obsolete) To offend against, to wrong (someone).
   • 1526, Bible, tr. William Tyndale, Matthew 6:14

     And forgeve us oure trespases, even as we forgeve them which trespas us.

3. (intransitive) To go too far; to put someone to inconvenience by demand or importunity; to intrude.

   Synonym: cross the line

   • 1813 — Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice.

     "Indeed I have, sir," was her answer. "She is a great deal too ill to be moved. Mr. Jones says we must not think of moving her. We must trespass a little longer on your kindness."

4. (law) To enter someone else's property illegally.
5. (obsolete) To pass beyond a limit or boundary; hence, to depart; to go.

   Synonyms: exceed, surpass, transcend

   • 1523–1525, Jean Froissart, John Bourchier, 2nd Baron Berners (translator), Froissart's Chronicles

     Soon after this, noble Robert de Bruce […] trespassed out of this uncertain world.

6. (transitive) To decree that a person shall be arrested for trespassing if he or she returns to someone else's land.

Derived terms

• trespasser

Translations

Further reading

• trespass in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• trespass in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• trespass at OneLook Dictionary Search
• “trespass”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.

Anagrams

• pastress, sparsest