as in to disobey
to behave badly
scolded the children for misbehaving and sent them to bed early
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Recent Examples of misbehave
Stevie wasn’t misbehaving or even playing with toys to occupy herself.
—
Alyce Collins, MSNBC Newsweek, 5 Dec. 2025
Several recent studies have shown that artificial-intelligence agents sometimes decide to misbehave, for instance by attempting to blackmail people who plan to replace them.
—Matthew Hutson, IEEE Spectrum, 25 Nov. 2025
This can lead to stress, perfectionist tendencies, and feeling not good enough when the other sibs inevitably misbehave.
—Jeffrey Kluger, Time, 3 Oct. 2025
Lawrence is hoping fans of both teams treat it as a special sporting event and do not misbehave.
—Gary Bedore, Kansas City Star, 3 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for misbehave
Alyce Collins, MSNBC Newsweek, 5 Dec. 2025
Several recent studies have shown that artificial-intelligence agents sometimes decide to misbehave, for instance by attempting to blackmail people who plan to replace them.
—Matthew Hutson, IEEE Spectrum, 25 Nov. 2025
This can lead to stress, perfectionist tendencies, and feeling not good enough when the other sibs inevitably misbehave.
—Jeffrey Kluger, Time, 3 Oct. 2025
Lawrence is hoping fans of both teams treat it as a special sporting event and do not misbehave.
—Gary Bedore, Kansas City Star, 3 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for misbehave
Recent Examples of Synonyms for misbehave
Verb
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In one story, the king, Hiranyakashipu, ordered everyone in his kingdom to worship him and was irked when his own son Prahlad, a devotee of Lord Vishnu, disobeyed his command.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
3 Mar. 2026
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In the internal report, an ICE agent wrote that Martinez appeared intoxicated or impaired and disobeyed verbal instructions to stop and exit his vehicle.—
Bayliss Wagner,
San Antonio Express-News,
22 Feb. 2026
Verb
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During the rule of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi Kurds were marginalized and repressed and sometimes rebelled.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
4 Mar. 2026
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Her father, who as a teenager in Tallinn began to rebel against Sovietization, insisted on teaching Stasevska and her two younger brothers to speak Ukrainian at home.—
Tim Greiving,
Los Angeles Times,
27 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Misbehave.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/misbehave. Accessed 9 Mar. 2026.
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