misjudge

1 of 2

verb

mis·​judge ˌmis-ˈjəj 

misjudged; misjudging; misjudges

intransitive verb

: to be mistaken in judgment

transitive verb

1

: to estimate wrongly

I misjudged how long this would take.

2

: to have an unjust opinion of

I'm sorry that I misjudged you.

misjudgment

ˌmis-ˈjəj-mənt 

noun

misjudgment

2 of 2

noun

mis·​judgment

variants or misjudgement

(ˈ)mis+

: incorrect or distorted judgment

the accident was caused by his misjudgment of the sharpness of the curve

his prejudices have led him into a serious misjudgment of his opponent

Synonyms of misjudge

Verb

• misunderstand
• underestimate
• miscalculate
• mistake
• misconceive

Examples of misjudge in a Sentence

Verb

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

Verb

Helmut Haller, West Germany vs England, 1966 Ray Wilson misjudges his headed clearance, Haller gathers it on the edge of the box and, just before Bobby Moore can close him down, slaps a right-footed shot into the far corner. — Adam Hurrey, New York Times, 17 July 2026

Large language artificial intelligence models, such as ChatGPT, often misjudge what people outside the West might value as a moral priority, according to our new research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. — Alexandra Figueroa, The Conversation, 14 July 2026

And Peter is massively misjudged a lot of the time, and that’s also really interesting. — Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 6 July 2026

Meanwhile, Scheffler misjudged his approach and scrambled to save par. — Joe Arruda, Hartford Courant, 29 June 2026

Word History

Etymology

Noun

mis- entry 1 + judgment

First Known Use

Verb

15th century, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense

Rhymes for misjudge

• adjudge
• begrudge
• prejudge
• budge
• drudge
• frage
• fudge
• grudge
• judge
• mudge
• nudge
• rudge

Kids Definition

misjudge

verb

mis·​judge (ˈ)mis-ˈjəj 

: to judge wrongly or unfairly

misjudgment

-ˈjəj-mənt 

noun