mis·match
ˈmis-ˌmach 
plural mismatches
: a faulty or unsuitable match
New England plays St. Louis in Super Bowl XXXVI this evening, and on the face of it, this game is a mismatch, a blowout waiting to happen.—
William C. Rhoden
William C. RhodenShe is blood type O, and the donor heart and lungs she received in the first operation were blood type A. That mismatch triggered rejection by her immune system.—Dan Vergano
Dan Vergano
mis·match
ˌmis-ˈmach
mismatched; mismatching
: to match (two people or things) wrongly or unsuitably
Let's say that you are afraid of boring your audience. One cause is mismatching the audience's need and the level of detail you provide.—Liz Reyer
Liz Reyer
Examples of mismatch in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the WebMiglė Petrauskaitė, Fortune, 10 Apr. 2024
That kind of mismatch in supply and demand is what can lead to outages.
—Justine Calma, The Verge, 8 Apr. 2024
Words that dogs knew better – as determined by their owners – also produced a bigger mismatch effect when the wrong object was shown, which researchers said strengthened their hypothesis.
—Issy Ronald, CNN, 1 Apr. 2024
Energy Dome, a start-up based in Milan, runs an energy-storage demonstration plant that helps to address a mismatch in the local electricity market.
—Amos Zeeberg, New York Times, 18 Mar. 2024
Stiff, strong robots are more repeatable and easier to control, but those designs have very little forgiveness for the imperfections and mismatches that are inherent in coming into contact with another robot.
—IEEE Spectrum, 11 Feb. 2024
The figures suggest a sharp mismatch between the skills of the labor force and the jobs being created in the market.
—Anup Roy, Fortune Asia, 30 Mar. 2024
Yet, around two out of five job applications on the platform are for remote roles, with little change from early in 2023—creating a supply and demand mismatch.
—Orianna Rosa Royle, Fortune, 26 Mar. 2024
But LinkedIn’s data is the latest to show a supply-demand mismatch between stubborn employers and flexibility-seeking employees.
—Ryan Hogg, Fortune Europe, 22 Mar. 2024
Sasha Hupka, The Arizona Republic, 19 Mar. 2024
In this way, scientists observed that brain activity in 14 of the 18 dogs was different when they were shown an object that matched with the word, compared to one that mismatched.
—Issy Ronald, CNN, 1 Apr. 2024
She gamely plays the part of the glamorous burgeoning pop star, in a fur-print puffer jacket, bra top and mismatched gold hoops that complement the edginess of her eyebrow slit.
—Heran Mamo, Billboard, 28 Mar. 2024
On her arms were mismatched blue and beige sleeve covers adorned with cows.
—Daisuke Wakabayashi, New York Times, 24 Mar. 2024
With These Wall Frames Display a collection of matching (or mismatched) pictures with these wall frames.
—Taylor Gumm, Rolling Stone, 7 Feb. 2024
Fanatics, which has taken over operations of the online NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL fan shops over the last decade, has been ridiculed by fans, at times for mismatching one team’s font on another’s jersey.
—Michael Nowels, The Mercury News, 2 Feb. 2024
Get rid of scratched broiling pans and mismatched pots and choose a new, gleaming set.
—Charlotte Observer, 30 Jan. 2024
As a result, the cars are often made up of mismatching colored parts.
—Zolan Kanno-Youngs Marian Carrasquero, New York Times, 26 Dec. 2023
Noun
The reality is stark: While the job market burgeons with opportunities, a mismatch in skills leaves many positions unfilled, even in the face of high or rising unemployment.
—Miglė Petrauskaitė, Fortune, 10 Apr. 2024
That kind of mismatch in supply and demand is what can lead to outages.
—Justine Calma, The Verge, 8 Apr. 2024
Words that dogs knew better – as determined by their owners – also produced a bigger mismatch effect when the wrong object was shown, which researchers said strengthened their hypothesis.
—Issy Ronald, CNN, 1 Apr. 2024
Energy Dome, a start-up based in Milan, runs an energy-storage demonstration plant that helps to address a mismatch in the local electricity market.
—Amos Zeeberg, New York Times, 18 Mar. 2024
Stiff, strong robots are more repeatable and easier to control, but those designs have very little forgiveness for the imperfections and mismatches that are inherent in coming into contact with another robot.
—IEEE Spectrum, 11 Feb. 2024
The figures suggest a sharp mismatch between the skills of the labor force and the jobs being created in the market.
—Anup Roy, Fortune Asia, 30 Mar. 2024
Yet, around two out of five job applications on the platform are for remote roles, with little change from early in 2023—creating a supply and demand mismatch.
—Orianna Rosa Royle, Fortune, 26 Mar. 2024
But LinkedIn’s data is the latest to show a supply-demand mismatch between stubborn employers and flexibility-seeking employees.
—Ryan Hogg, Fortune Europe, 22 Mar. 2024
Verb
Election staff will later process any ballots that require more investigation and follow-up, such as those with missing or mismatched signatures.
—Sasha Hupka, The Arizona Republic, 19 Mar. 2024
In this way, scientists observed that brain activity in 14 of the 18 dogs was different when they were shown an object that matched with the word, compared to one that mismatched.
—Issy Ronald, CNN, 1 Apr. 2024
She gamely plays the part of the glamorous burgeoning pop star, in a fur-print puffer jacket, bra top and mismatched gold hoops that complement the edginess of her eyebrow slit.
—Heran Mamo, Billboard, 28 Mar. 2024
On her arms were mismatched blue and beige sleeve covers adorned with cows.
—Daisuke Wakabayashi, New York Times, 24 Mar. 2024
With These Wall Frames Display a collection of matching (or mismatched) pictures with these wall frames.
—Taylor Gumm, Rolling Stone, 7 Feb. 2024
Fanatics, which has taken over operations of the online NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL fan shops over the last decade, has been ridiculed by fans, at times for mismatching one team’s font on another’s jersey.
—Michael Nowels, The Mercury News, 2 Feb. 2024
Get rid of scratched broiling pans and mismatched pots and choose a new, gleaming set.
—Charlotte Observer, 30 Jan. 2024
As a result, the cars are often made up of mismatching colored parts.
—Zolan Kanno-Youngs Marian Carrasquero, New York Times, 26 Dec. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'mismatch.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Dictionary Entries Near mismatch
Cite this Entry
“Mismatch.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mismatch. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.
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Kids Definition
mismatch
verb
mis·match
(ˈ)mis-ˈmach
: to match unsuitably or badly
mismatch
noun
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