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“Misdemeanor” or “Misdemeanour”

Misdemeanor is predominantly used in American (US) English (en-US) while misdemeanour is predominantly used in British English (used in UK/AU/NZ) (en-GB).

Usage by country

Where each spelling is used

Of the 12 countries below, 10 prefer “misdemeanor” and 0 prefer “misdemeanour”. Usage levels are out of 100; the more common spelling in each country is in bold.

Usage level out of 100 (if available).
Country misdemeanor misdemeanour Preference
United States 100 0 “misdemeanor”
United Kingdom 84 16 “misdemeanor”
India 72 28 “misdemeanor”
Philippines 97 3 “misdemeanor”
Canada 95 5 “misdemeanor”
Australia 77 23 “misdemeanor”
Liberia 0 0 Not enough data
Ireland 84 16 “misdemeanor”
New Zealand 81 19 “misdemeanor”
Jamaica 100 0 “misdemeanor”
Trinidad & Tobago 100 0 “misdemeanor”
Guyana 0 0 Not enough data
Usage

Examples in context

Real sentences for each spelling. Hover an example to copy it.

“misdemeanor”

  • …first offense, guilty of a misdemeanor."
  • …and found for the lower misdemeanor option of unauthorized access to…
  • …2001, Patterson was convicted of misdemeanor assault for attacking a man…
  • …Superior Court to remove his misdemeanor false imprisonment conviction from his…
  • …violation of felony or serious misdemeanor criminal laws (which may or…
  • …Georgia reduced Wilson's charge to misdemeanor aggravated child molestation, ordered that…
  • …makes the captain guilty of misdemeanor, and upon conviction, can lead…
  • …of trade, which is a misdemeanor and not a felony, and…
  • Misdemeanor drug-offense conviction (2015)
  • …SB 1070, making it a misdemeanor crime if an unlawful citizen…

“misdemeanour”

  • Pleading in Misdemeanour Act 1819 c. 4
  • …was fined £50 for the misdemeanour on 29 December 1930.
  • The only other misdemeanour by a Bradmore resident that…
  • …editors' code of conduct, a misdemeanour for which the Press Complaints…
  • …and a judge of the Misdemeanour Court were abducted by ISIL…
  • …prohibited and qualifies as a misdemeanour.
  • …is also connected with criminal misdemeanour of advantaged youth.
  • …to defraud, indictable as a misdemeanour under the Larceny Act 1861…
  • …praemunire because it was a misdemeanour.
  • …a felony rather than a misdemeanour.

Examples are Wikipedia snippets under the CC ShareAlike 3.0 license.

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