miscellaneous

adjective mis·cel·la·neous \ ˌmi-sə-ˈlā-nē-əs , -nyəs \

|Updated on: 12 Aug 2018

Examples: miscellaneous in a Sentence

Definition of miscellaneous

1 : consisting of diverse things or members : heterogeneous

2 a : having various traits

b : dealing with or interested in diverse subjects

as a writer I was too miscellaneous
—George Santayana

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miscellaneously

adverb

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miscellaneousness

noun

See miscellaneous defined for English-language learners

See miscellaneous defined for kids

Examples of miscellaneous in a Sentence

The coyotes, in other words, also munched rabbits, woodchucks, meadow mice, deer mice, jumping mice, and freelance miscellaneous booty like frogs and fallen apples and muskrats, … —Edward Hoagland, Harper's, June 2007
The sandhogs' word for a miscellaneous happening in which a sandhog is injured is mishap. —Alec Wilkinson, Double Take, Summer 2001
… we came upon what must have been his camp, a rather elaborate shelter made of lashed saplings and covered with plastic sheeting; empty Clorox bottles were scattered around, along with rope, canned goods, and what Huck Finn would have called his traps—the miscellaneous pots, clothing, and whatnot that you lug around through life. —Franklin Burroughs, The River Home, 1992
a miscellaneous collection of tools
the bottom of the drawer was always a miscellaneous accumulation of odds and ends

Recent Examples of miscellaneous from the Web

Someone entered a car parked in the 100 block of North Austin Boulevard and stole a tool box containing miscellaneous tools and a 9mm handgun valued at $500 between 12:50 a.m. and 12:55 a.m. July 6.

— staff report, chicagotribune.com, "Police: Oak Park resident robbed while walking on Austin Boulevard," 14 July 2018
Of those, 73 were for legalization, 12 were against and the remaining 12 were in a miscellaneous category including jokes about the munchies and statements that a vote doesn’t matter because the commenter already smokes anyway.

— dan sweeney, Sun-Sentinel.com, "Readers show strong support for legalization of recreational marijuana," 28 June 2018
The report details the financial records of 230 public schools for 2016-17 and collects data from ticket sales, contributions, rights and licensing, student fees, school funds and miscellaneous revenues.

— katherine fitzgerald, azcentral, "Where does ASU, Arizona, Pac-12 stack up in USA TODAY's look at NCAA revenues and expenses?," 28 June 2018
Coins, rock climbing gear, earphones and other miscellaneous items were taken from unlocked vehicles on Apache, Blackhawk Trail and Glenbrook Lane.

— pioneer press, chicagotribune.com, "Police blotter: Five cars entered in one night in Western Springs," 12 July 2018
There are a handful of other miscellaneous updates to glean from the patch notes as well.

— andrew webster, The Verge, "Fortnite season 5 introduces temporal rifts, golf carts, and new locations," 12 July 2018
And then there’s his miscellaneous scandals, which included spending $1,500 taxpayer dollars on fountain pens and $43,000 on a soundproof booth.

— emily atkin, The New Republic, "Scott Pruitt Is Gone. His Assault on the Environment Continues.," 5 July 2018
Some miscellaneous items in the vehicle were found on Milwaukee's northwest side later that day.

— bill kurtz, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Lock those cars: Rash of thefts from vehicles reported in Mequon," 3 July 2018
The first finds were miscellaneous bone fragments, which analysts at the Manassas site took to be human.

— ryan p. smith, Smithsonian, "Newly Unearthed Civil War Bones Speak Silently to the Grim Aftermath of Battle," 20 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'miscellaneous.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.