misalignment

noun

mis·​align·​ment ˌmis-ə-ˈlīn-mənt 

plural misalignments

: the condition of being out of correct position or improperly adjusted : bad or incorrect alignment

Over time, because of damage and wear, typewriters develop faults and misalignments that render their typescript unique.

—Laney Salisbury et al.

… overuse injuries are all too often the consequence of poor technique or misalignment of body parts.

—Jane E. Brody

Examples of misalignment in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Leaders and employees must work together to build lightweight systems for sharing progress, challenges and ideas before misalignment snowballs. —Expert Panel®, Forbes.com, 3 June 2025

And in this gap—which today’s A.I. engineers sometimes call misalignment—lots of unsettling things can happen. —Cal Newport, New Yorker, 3 June 2025

However, the one-degree misalignment theory also removes those discrepancies, as Daniel Morgan, a science historian at France’s Center for Research on East Asian Civilizations, tells Live Science. —Sonja Anderson, Smithsonian Magazine, 21 May 2025

And that misalignment can spread quickly across teams, affecting culture, morale and outcomes. —Kiran Mann, Forbes.com, 27 May 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1870, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for misalignment

• nonalignment
• realignment
• reassignment
• reconsignment
• alignment
• alinement
• assignment
• confinement
• consignment
• refinement