mismatch

1 of 2

noun

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

She 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

mismatch

2 of 2

verb

mis·​match ˌmis-ˈmach 

mismatched; mismatching

transitive verb

: 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

Examples of mismatch in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Inside, the couple meet a mismatch of eccentric characters, like biker Eddie (Meat Loaf), butler Riff-Rat (O'Brien) and doting aid Columbia (Nell Campbell). —Greta Cross, USA Today, 27 Sep. 2025

Even if the message looks polished, a small mismatch can reveal a scam. —Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 27 Sep. 2025

Verb

Hard to say on a show with a story that feels slightly mismatched to its episode count (like many a modern streaming series), though that usually indicates some information has been withheld to keep the audience in artificial suspense. —Andy Andersen, Vulture, 19 Sep. 2025

With one in three workers across OECD countries being mismatched to their jobs, according to OECD analysis, the urgency to fill knowledge gaps is obvious. —David James, Forbes.com, 16 Sep. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

Noun

1606, in the meaning defined above

Verb

1582, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for mismatch

• attach
• bycatch
• despatch
• detach
• dispatch
• nuthatch
• potlatch
• toothache
• bache
• batch
• brach
• catch

Kids Definition

mismatch

verb

mis·​match

(ˈ)mis-ˈmach

: to match unsuitably or badly

mismatch noun