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 of mismanage

• 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

Erika Donalds disputed the allegation that her nonprofit had mismanaged an audit at the Jacksonville schools and said the other schools’ partnerships with her foundation were always meant to be temporary. — Claire Heddles, Miami Herald, 22 Oct. 2026

In May, the gossip website Deuxmoi published allegations that Marc and Heidi had mismanaged Charli’s money. — Nancy Jo Sales, HollywoodReporter, 21 Oct. 2026

Conservatives have long criticized it as wasteful, mismanaged and overrun. — Terrence McCoy, Washington Post, 17 Oct. 2026

The Eagles should’ve been in position to kick the winning goal as time expired but the offense mismanaged the sequence leading up to Elliott’s attempt. — ABC News, 12 Oct. 2026

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