mis·match
ˈmis-ˌmach 
plural mismatches
: a faulty or unsuitable match
New England plays St. Louis in Super Bowl XXXVI this evening, and on the face of it, this game is a mismatch, a blowout waiting to happen.—
William C. Rhoden
William C. RhodenShe is blood type O, and the donor heart and lungs she received in the first operation were blood type A. That mismatch triggered rejection by her immune system.—Dan Vergano
Dan Vergano
mis·match
ˌmis-ˈmach
mismatched; mismatching
: to match (two people or things) wrongly or unsuitably
Let's say that you are afraid of boring your audience. One cause is mismatching the audience's need and the level of detail you provide.—Liz Reyer
Liz ReyerExamples of mismatch in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Grace Abels, Austin American Statesman, 2 July 2025
This mismatch in the data between the different antennas caused the blur, so to remove it, the researchers eliminated the signal coming from the outer antennas to favor only the inner part of the telescope, which is spread out over about 2.3 square miles in the Australian outback.
—Jacopo Prisco, CNN Money, 30 June 2025
Mikko Karkkainen, Forbes.com, 10 July 2025
Their gruff cheers mismatched the high-pitched hum of the buggies.
—William Liang, Los Angeles Times, 7 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for mismatch
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Noun
Any mismatch between documents and someone’s current identification cards could disrupt voter registration.
—Grace Abels, Austin American Statesman, 2 July 2025
This mismatch in the data between the different antennas caused the blur, so to remove it, the researchers eliminated the signal coming from the outer antennas to favor only the inner part of the telescope, which is spread out over about 2.3 square miles in the Australian outback.
—Jacopo Prisco, CNN Money, 30 June 2025
Verb
Treating the market as homogenous risks missing key signals and mismatching offerings.
—Mikko Karkkainen, Forbes.com, 10 July 2025
Their gruff cheers mismatched the high-pitched hum of the buggies.
—William Liang, Los Angeles Times, 7 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for mismatch
Cite this Entry
“Mismatch.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mismatch. Accessed 15 Jul. 2025.
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