misjudge

verb

mis·​judge ˌmis-ˈjəj How to pronounce misjudge (audio)
misjudged; misjudging; misjudges

intransitive verb

: to be mistaken in judgment

transitive verb

1
: to estimate wrongly
2
: to have an unjust opinion of
misjudgment noun

Examples of misjudge in a Sentence

I can see that I've completely misjudged you. I apologize. The outfielder misjudged the fly ball and it went over his head. The pilot misjudged the landing.
Recent Examples on the Web Headline numbers Why have so many people misjudged China’s power? Dan Murphy, The Conversation, 1 Mar. 2024 Neither is this latest entry into a long-proud tradition of female detectives weaponizing the way people misjudge them. Lili Loofbourow, Washington Post, 29 Feb. 2024 The Sabres also misjudged their goaltending situation in rushing rookie Devon Levi into a starting role before finally demoting him to the minors after going 9-7-2 with a .891 save percentage. John Wawrow, USA TODAY, 20 Feb. 2024 Justin Timberlake misjudged a fun moment with Travis Kelce — and ended up on the ground. Jack Irvin, Peoplemag, 26 Jan. 2024 Peretti understood the power of traffic to reshape the structure of culture but ultimately misjudged the direction of its effect on society. Aaron Timms, The New Republic, 18 Apr. 2023 When asked why Fox so plainly misjudged its legal case, Stelter is somewhat puzzled, attributing it, at least initially, to hubris. Paolo Confino, Fortune, 15 Nov. 2023 With more than 30 Americans dead and 10 missing, mounting fears of a regional war, and billions of dollars in U.S. military hardware headed to the Middle East since Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, some officials say the U.S. misjudged the threat to U.S. national security. WSJ, 1 Nov. 2023 Israeli officials misjudged the threat posed by Hamas for years, and more critically in the run-up to the attack. Maria Abi-Habib, New York Times, 29 Oct. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'misjudge.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense

Time Traveler
The first known use of misjudge was in the 15th century

Dictionary Entries Near misjudge

Cite this Entry

“Misjudge.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/misjudge. Accessed 18 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

misjudge

verb
mis·​judge (ˈ)mis-ˈjəj How to pronounce misjudge (audio)
: to judge wrongly or unfairly
misjudgment noun

More from Merriam-Webster on misjudge

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