English dictionary — definitions & meanings

misapprehend

verb

To interpret incorrectly; to misunderstand.

misapprehension

noun

A failure to understand something; an illusion, misconception, or misunderstanding.

misappropriate

verb

To take something for wrong or illegal purposes.

misappropriator

noun

A person who misappropriates.

Misato

name

A city in Saitama Prefecture, Japan.

misbalance

verb

To balance badly or wrongly.

misbegotten

adj

Born out of wedlock; illegitimate.

misbehave

verb

To act badly or improperly, especially by breaking rules of conduct.

misbehaving

noun

Bad conduct; acting in a way that breaks expected rules of behaviour.

misbehavior

noun

Action or conduct that is inappropriate, improper, incorrect, or unexpected.

misbid

verb

To injure; mistreat.

miscalculate

verb

To calculate incorrectly.

miscalculation

noun

A calculation that comes out wrong, usually due to a mistaken figure or method.

miscarriage

noun

The loss of a pregnancy before the baby can survive outside the womb.

Miscavige

name

A surname of Polish origin.

miscellanea

noun

A miscellaneous collection of different things; a miscellany.

miscellaneous

adj

Made up of a mixed assortment of different things.

miscellany

noun

An assortment of miscellaneous items.

mischance

noun

Bad luck, misfortune.

mischief

noun

Playful behaviour that causes minor trouble or annoyance, without real malice.

mischievous

adj

Fond of playful teasing or harmless pranks.

mischievousness

noun

The characteristic of being mischievous; the tendency to make mischief.

miscommunication

noun

A situation where information passes between people incorrectly or gets misunderstood.

miscomputation

noun

The incorrect performance of a computation.

miscompute

noun

An erroneous computation.

misconceive

verb

To misunderstand.

misconception

noun

An idea or belief that is factually wrong, even though it is widely held.

misconduct

noun

Behaviour that breaks accepted rules of conduct, especially at work or in a profession.

misconstrue

verb

To interpret erroneously, to understand incorrectly; to misunderstand.

misconstrued

adj

Understood in the wrong way; interpreted incorrectly.

miscopy

verb

To copy incorrectly; to copy with mistakes.

miscounting

noun

An act of counting incorrectly.

miscreant

noun

Someone who behaves badly or breaks the law, often used in a light or old-fashioned way.

misdeed

noun

That which was done that should not have been, ranging from any sin or moral offense to various degrees of crime.

misdemean

verb

With a reflexive pronoun: to cause (oneself) to behave badly.

misdemeanor

noun

A minor criminal offence, less serious than a felony and usually punished with a fine or short sentence.

misdemeanorize

verb

To reclassify (an offense) as a misdemeanor.

misdirect

verb

To direct something wrongly

misdirection

noun

The act of steering someone's attention or effort the wrong way, often deliberately, as in magic tricks.

misdoing

noun

An act of wrongdoing; a misdeed.

miser

noun

Someone who hoards money and hates spending it, even when they can easily afford to.

miserable

adj

Extremely unhappy, especially over a period of time.

miserably

adv

In a way that shows deep unhappiness, or (of an attempt) very badly.

miserly

adj

Unwilling to spend money even when it would be reasonable to.

misery

noun

A state of deep unhappiness, suffering, or distress.

misfabricate

verb

To fabricate incorrectly.

misfeel

verb

To feel wrongly or incorrectly

misfire

verb

To fail to fire or ignite properly, as with a gun or an engine.

misfit

noun

A person who doesn't fit in with the people or group around them.

misfortunate

adj

Having suffered misfortune; pitiable or habitually unfortunate.

misfortune

noun

Bad luck, or an unlucky event.

misfunction

verb

To function incorrectly; to malfunction.

misgiving

noun

Doubt, apprehension, a feeling of dread

misgrace

verb

To grace or treat wrongly; disgrace; offend; ill-treat; disrespect

misguide

verb

To guide poorly or incorrectly; to lead astray or into error.

misguided

adj

Based on a mistaken idea or poor judgment, even if well-intentioned.

misguilt

noun

Offense; misdeed; crime; fault.

Misha

name

A given name used in Russian and Ukrainian, most often as a diminutive of Michael for boys, and occasionally as a girl's name.

mishallowed

adj

Consecrated to evil uses, or by unhallowed means.

mishandle

verb

To manipulate something roughly, causing physical damage.

mishap

noun

A minor accident or piece of bad luck, usually not serious.

mishappiness

noun

Unhappiness; wretchedness; misery.

mishear

verb

To hear wrongly.

misheed

verb

To heed amiss; fail to heed.

Mishima

noun

A style of decorating pottery by pressing patterns into wet clay and filling the grooves with a contrasting slip before glazing.

mishmash

noun

A collection containing a variety of miscellaneous things.

Mishra

name

An Indian surname of Sanskrit origin.

misidentify

verb

To mistake the identity of (something or someone).

misinform

verb

To give or deliver false, fake, or misleading information to.

misinformation

noun

False information spread, whether or not the person spreading it knows it is false.

misinterpret

verb

To understand or explain something incorrectly.

misjudge

verb

To form a wrong opinion or estimate of someone or something.

misken

verb

To mistake one for another; mistake in point of knowledge or recognition; misconceive.

mislaid

adj

Put down somewhere and then forgotten, so it can't currently be found.

mislay

verb

To leave or lay something in the wrong place and then forget where one put it.

mislead

verb

To cause someone to believe something untrue, whether on purpose or by accident.

misleading

adj

Creating a false impression, even if not technically a lie.

mislike

verb

To disapprove of or dislike (someone or something); to have an aversion to.

mismanagement

noun

The process or practice of managing ineptly, incompetently, or dishonestly.

mismatch

verb

To match unsuitably; to fail to match

mismeasure

verb

To measure incorrectly or inaccurately.

miso

noun

A thick, salty Japanese paste made from fermented soybeans, used to flavour soups and sauces.

misogynist

noun

A person who hates or has strong prejudice against women.

misogynistic

adj

Showing or reflecting hatred or prejudice against women.

misogyny

noun

Hatred of, contempt for, or entrenched prejudice against women.

misorder

noun

Disorder; irregularity.

misperform

verb

To perform badly or wrongly.

mispersuade

verb

To persuade wrongly; to persuade into doing something wrong

misplace

verb

To lose track of something by forgetting where it was put.

misplaced

adj

Directed at something that doesn't deserve it, such as misplaced confidence or blame.

misplease

verb

To fail in pleasing; displease.

misprint

noun

An accidental mistake in print.

mispronounce

verb

To pronounce (a word, phrase, etc.) incorrectly.

misproportioned

adj

Having incorrect or distorted proportions.

misra

name

A surname. Alternative form of Mishra.

misread

verb

To read or interpret something wrongly.

misreckoning

noun

A false reckoning; a miscalculation.

misrecollection

noun

Erroneous or inaccurate recollection or memory

misregard

noun

Wrong understanding; misconstruction.

misrepresent

verb

To represent falsely; to inaccurately portray something.

misrespect

noun

Lack of respect; improper respect; disrespect.

miss

verb

To fail to hit, catch, reach, or make contact with something.

misshape

noun

A misshapen person; a misshapen body.

misshapen

adj

Having an unnatural, awkward, or deformed shape.

misshapenness

noun

Quality of being misshapen.

missie

noun

An informal, often old-fashioned way of addressing a young woman or girl.

missile

noun

A self-propelled, guided weapon that flies to its target.

missing

adj

Not able to be found; gone from where it should be.

missingness

noun

Missing data; omission.

mission

noun

A specific task or purpose someone is sent to carry out.

missionary

noun

A person sent to spread a religion, especially Christianity, often while providing aid.

missis

noun

Pronunciation spelling of missus, representing African-American Vernacular English.

Mississippi

name

A U.S. state in the Deep South.

missive

noun

A written message; a letter, note or memo.

missolve

verb

To solve incorrectly; to arrive at the wrong solution.

Missouri

name

A U.S. state in the Midwest, capital Jefferson City.

misspelled

adj

Spelled incorrectly.

misspent

adj

Spent in a bad way, squandered

misstatement

noun

Something stated wrongly; a (usually unintentionally) incorrect statement.

misstep

noun

A mistake or poor decision, especially one that damages someone's reputation or plans.

misstowed

adj

Stowed wrongly, incorrectly, or improperly.

missus

noun

Informal term for one's wife or girlfriend.

misswear

verb

To swear falsely or wrongly.

Missy

noun

An informal, often teasing or mildly scolding way of addressing a young woman or girl.

mist

noun

A cloud of tiny water droplets floating near the ground, thinner than fog.

mistake

noun

An action, decision, or belief that is wrong or incorrect.

mistaken

adj

Wrong or incorrect, especially in an opinion or belief.

mistakenly

adv

In a way that is wrong or due to an error; by accident.

mistaking

noun

A mistake or misunderstanding.

mister

noun

A title of respect used before a man's name, usually written "Mr."

mistify

verb

To envelop or shroud in mist.

mistiness

noun

The quality of being misty.

mistletoe

noun

A parasitic evergreen plant with white berries that grows on tree branches, traditionally hung as a Christmas decoration.

mistreat

verb

To treat someone or something badly or cruelly.

mistreatment

noun

Cruel, abusive, unfair, or thoughtless treatment of a person or animal (or rarely an object).

mistress

noun

A woman having an ongoing romantic or sexual relationship with a man who is married to someone else.

mistrial

noun

A trial stopped before it reaches a verdict because of a serious legal error or a jury that cannot agree.

mistrust

noun

A lack of trust or confidence in someone or something.

mistrustful

adj

Having mistrust, lacking trust (in someone or something).

mistruth

noun

Untruth; falsehood.

misty

adj

Covered with or full of mist; hazy.

misunderstand

verb

To understand something incorrectly.

misunderstanding

noun

A failure to understand something correctly; a mistaken interpretation.

misunderstood

adj

Not correctly understood.

misunion

noun

A bad or wrong union: a bad marriage, a wrong alliance, or an inappropriate or defective joint or attachment.

misuse

noun

Incorrect, careless, or improper use of something.

misused

adj

Used in a wrong, careless, or improper way.

misuser

noun

A person who misuses something.

mitch

verb

To skip school without permission; to play truant.

mitchell

name

A surname transferred from the given name.