mismanage

verb

mis·​man·​age ˌmis-ˈma-nij How to pronounce mismanage (audio)
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 noun
plural mismanagements
financial mismanagement of the company

Examples of mismanage in a Sentence

the business was mismanaged so seriously that it eventually had to declare bankruptcy
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Established in the early days of pandemic shutdowns in 2020, the IDES program for enhanced unemployment insurance was overwhelmed with claims and badly mismanaged, the Illinois auditor general found in a report issued in 2023. Jason Meisner, Chicago Tribune, 16 May 2025 The contours remain the same: negligent and mismanaged staff fail to prevent frequent incidents of violence in ways that harm both the people incarcerated at the facility and the staff themselves. New York Daily News Editorial Board, New York Daily News, 14 May 2025 Listen to this article Maria-Elena Giner, an appointee of former President Joe Biden who is credited with overhauling the underfunded and mismanaged U.S. International Boundary and Water Commission, has been replaced with a President Donald Trump appointee. Tammy Murga, San Diego Union-Tribune, 21 Apr. 2025 In January, months after filing a suit against Danny, Antonia and Johanna claimed that their brother mismanaged Tony's money for years — and stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from the family trust. Ilana Kaplan, People.com, 1 Apr. 2025 See All Example Sentences for mismanage

Word History

First Known Use

1651, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of mismanage was in 1651

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Mismanage.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mismanage. Accessed 23 May. 2025.

Kids Definition

mismanage

verb
mis·​man·​age
(ˈ)mis-ˈman-ij
: to manage badly or improperly
mismanagement
-mənt
noun

More from Merriam-Webster on mismanage

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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