mismanage
verb
mis·man·age
ˌmis-ˈma-nij 
mismanaged; mismanaging
: 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
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
Brendan Gill
Synonyms
Examples of mismanage in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The rapidly evolving dynamics are testing the limits of the GOP’s drift toward an isolationist foreign policy and threaten to undermine the party’s broader argument that Democratic President Joe Biden has mismanaged U.S. relationships with the rest of the world.
—Steve Peoples, Fortune, 16 Oct. 2023
Before issuing the indictments, the special grand jury released a highly critical 91-page report concluding that while there was no coordinated coverup of the assaults, Loudoun schools and public safety officials deeply mismanaged the situation.
—Karina Elwood, Washington Post, 10 July 2023
The exchange only increased my feeling that the whole thing was mismanaged and unjustified.
—Karla L. Miller, Anchorage Daily News, 15 Sep. 2023
Under its current director, Rohit Chopra, the CFPB has been at the heart of massive federal enforcement efforts targeting the financial sector — including probes into Wells Fargo, which was forced to pay a record $3.7 billion penalty after mismanaging customers’ accounts last December.
—Tony Romm, Washington Post, 28 Oct. 2023
On Sunday, Musk aimed a series of tweets at Wikipedia and its co-founder Jimmy Wales, mocking a call for more funding before immediately implying that the nonprofit Wikimedia Foundation was mismanaging its funds.
—Ct Jones, Rolling Stone, 24 Oct. 2023
He has been blamed for mismanaging the bullpen, mucking up the lineup and failing to put this team in a position to succeed.
—Bill Plaschke, Los Angeles Times, 12 Oct. 2023
He has been blamed for mismanaging the bullpen, mucking up the lineup, and failing to put this team in a position to succeed.
—Dylan Hernández, Los Angeles Times, 12 Oct. 2023
Its criminal justice system has been riddled with corruption, and the privatization of state property has been mismanaged, but elections had been consistently deemed free and fair by international monitors.
—Andrew E. Kramer, New York Times, 5 Oct. 2023
See More
Steve Peoples, Fortune, 16 Oct. 2023
Before issuing the indictments, the special grand jury released a highly critical 91-page report concluding that while there was no coordinated coverup of the assaults, Loudoun schools and public safety officials deeply mismanaged the situation.
—Karina Elwood, Washington Post, 10 July 2023
The exchange only increased my feeling that the whole thing was mismanaged and unjustified.
—Karla L. Miller, Anchorage Daily News, 15 Sep. 2023
Under its current director, Rohit Chopra, the CFPB has been at the heart of massive federal enforcement efforts targeting the financial sector — including probes into Wells Fargo, which was forced to pay a record $3.7 billion penalty after mismanaging customers’ accounts last December.
—Tony Romm, Washington Post, 28 Oct. 2023
On Sunday, Musk aimed a series of tweets at Wikipedia and its co-founder Jimmy Wales, mocking a call for more funding before immediately implying that the nonprofit Wikimedia Foundation was mismanaging its funds.
—Ct Jones, Rolling Stone, 24 Oct. 2023
He has been blamed for mismanaging the bullpen, mucking up the lineup and failing to put this team in a position to succeed.
—Bill Plaschke, Los Angeles Times, 12 Oct. 2023
He has been blamed for mismanaging the bullpen, mucking up the lineup, and failing to put this team in a position to succeed.
—Dylan Hernández, Los Angeles Times, 12 Oct. 2023
Its criminal justice system has been riddled with corruption, and the privatization of state property has been mismanaged, but elections had been consistently deemed free and fair by international monitors.
—Andrew E. Kramer, New York Times, 5 Oct. 2023
See More
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'mismanage.' 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
1651, in the meaning defined above
Dictionary Entries Near mismanage
Cite this Entry
“Mismanage.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mismanage. Accessed 8 Dec. 2023.
Copy Citation
Kids Definition
mismanage
verb
mis·man·age
(ˈ)mis-ˈman-ij
: to manage badly or improperly
mismanagement
noun
-mənt
More from Merriam-Webster on mismanage
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share