mismanage

verb

mis·​man·​age ˌmis-ˈma-nij 

mismanaged; mismanaging

transitive verb

: to manage (something) wrongly or poorly

mismanage a business

… started thinking that maybe employees are sometimes mismanaged because they let themselves be mismanaged. They don't fight back.

—A. J. Anderson

… even those professional Pollyannas who publicly find reason to praise the current municipal administration shake their heads in private and wonder how long we can go on deliberately mismanaging our affairs.

—Brendan Gill

mismanagement

ˌmis-ˈma-nij-mənt 

noun

plural mismanagements

financial mismanagement of the company

Synonyms

• misconduct
• damage
• violate
• mishandle
• misgovern
• abuse

Examples of mismanage in a Sentence

the business was mismanaged so seriously that it eventually had to declare bankruptcy

Recent Examples on the Web

The Red Sox now face the task of ending this narrative from the last three years: Boston mismanages the deadline, the morale slumps and Boston plummets over the final two months. —Tim Crowley, MSNBC Newsweek, 1 Aug. 2025

He’s also accused the Fed chair of mismanaging a $2.5 billion renovation of its headquarters and a separate building, a charge Powell has denied and for which the president has provided no evidence beyond the cost overruns. —Steve Liesman, CNBC, 29 July 2025

Bianco has clearly mismanaged the department ever since. —The Editorial Board, Oc Register, 29 July 2025

While Boston may have potentially mismanaged Devers’ positional change, the team was also justified in moving him. —Rohan Nadkarni, NBC news, 25 July 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1651, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for mismanage

• manage
• tannage

Kids Definition

mismanage

verb

mis·​man·​age

(ˈ)mis-ˈman-ij

: to manage badly or improperly

mismanagement

-mənt

noun