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

Building and owning a home has turned from being a reasonable life goal to a complete cash grab by corrupt and mismanaged governments. —Kaitlyn Schallhorn, Oc Register, 4 May 2026

In its rebuttals to his lawsuit, the commission accused Bingaman of mismanaging the agency and disputed his claims. —Dug Begley, Houston Chronicle, 4 May 2026

Both have been negligently mismanaged and are losing Billions of taxpayer funds that could be put to work actually helping our people and our city. —Teresa Liu, Daily News, 4 May 2026

Hilsenrath’s core charge is that Powell, shaped by his years at the Fed during the Great Financial Crisis, mismanaged the COVID crisis by reaching for the same tools. —Eva Roytburg, Fortune, 3 May 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