Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
mislaid

mislaid

4.7
Temporarily lost because you put it somewhere and forgot where
  • adjective
  • /ˌmɪsˈleɪd/
translation icon : extraviado
  • Her mislaid notes from the meeting made it difficult to recall the important details.

Examples

  • A postcard of the Doubtful Guest, from Leaves from a Mislaid Album, 1972.

    Blog text (2)

  • She said it always seemed to her the best way to describe that time of early evening when the world seemed trapped in melancholy and all its regrets for all its mislaid plans for the day were spelled out in the fading clouds.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • I found my keys in a mislaid bag at the back of the closet.

  • After searching for hours, I remembered that I had mislaid my wallet on the kitchen counter.

Synonyms

lost
vsmislaid
18 1.0

Not in a person's possession and cannot be found

implies a temporary absence often caused by being placed somewhere unusual
misplaced
vsmislaid
5 2.8

Not in the right spot when you need it

focuses on the temporary lost state after being put somewhere unusual

Antonyms

recovered
3.2

Found again after being lost or missing

How Lost

lost
18 1.0
missing
809 1.0
misplaced
5 2.8
mislaid
4.7

Surface Forms

mislaid positive

Morphology

mislaid = mislay (transparent) = mis + lay + mis + ed

Formed by adding the participial suffix '-ed' to the clearly analyzable verb 'mislay'; the sense matches the expected 'mis-' (wrongly/incorrectly) + 'lay'.

Etymology

Mislaid comes from mis- meaning 'wrongly' and laid from the verb 'lay' meaning 'to put', as in misplace. So, if something is mislaid it was 'put in the wrong place', which is why it is temporarily lost.