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Glite Dictionary
to mismanage

to mismanage

17 4.8
To run something badly so it fails or causes problems
  • verb
  • /ˌmɪsˈmænɪdʒ/
translation icon : gestionar mal
  • The manager mismanaged the budget, leading to significant financial losses for the company.
  • mismanaged waste
  • mismanaging the economy

I mean, he completely mismanaged the pandemic.

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Examples

  • And this leads people who run Major League Baseball teams to misjudge their players and mismanage their teams.

    Moneyball (2011)

  • The reserves were also mismanaged in times of relative calm.

    Academic text (2008)

  • That if you mismanage, it can have the most devastating effect on your life.

    Dr. Phil

  • I mean, he completely mismanaged the pandemic.

    I've Had It

  • If they mismanage their revenues, they may well fall prey to the oil curse, too.

    Academic text (2011)

  • In the end, if the school district is underfunded and mismanaged, teacher and teaching quality suffer.

    Blog text (29)

  • The father had had money, but the estate was mismanaged by uncaring trustees.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • Japan's bureaucrats have lost the public's confidence by mismanaging the economy for a decade.

    Academic text (2001)

  • The hearings will also show Hughes Aircraft to be mismanaged and incompetent and it will go bankrupt, too.

    The Aviator (2004)

  • Within the party, more conservative factions blamed the socialists advising the President for mismanaging the nationalization of the banks.

    Academic text (1990)

Synonyms

to mishandle
vsto mismanage
20 4.9

Deal with something badly so it causes problems or damage

is poor or incompetent running without necessarily causing direct damage
to misgovern
vsto mismanage
1 8.3

To lead a country or group badly and hurt its people

is broader poor running across contexts not only in national or group settings
to misrule
vsto mismanage
1 7.4

To lead a country in a bad or dishonest way

is poor running without the specific injustice or oppression aspect
to misregulate
vsto mismanage
8.1

To control something in the wrong way so it does not work properly

is general poor running rather than a technical rules error

Antonyms

to manage
643 2.7

To be in charge of a group or a business

to oversee
221 3.9

To watch and direct other people's work

How Well Managed

to optimize
69 5.3
to administer
  • Formal
81 4.7
to manage
239 2.3
to mismanage
17 4.8
to neglect
256 3.8

Surface Forms

mismanage infinitive
mismanaged past
mismanaged past participle
mismanaging present participle
mismanages third person singular

Morphology

mismanage = manage (transparent) = mis + manage

The productive prefix 'mis-' meaning 'wrongly' or 'badly' attaches to the verb 'manage', yielding the clear sense 'to manage poorly'.

Etymology

Mismanage breaks into mis- meaning 'wrong' and manage, which comes from an old word for 'hand', as in manual. So to mismanage something is to 'handle' it wrongly, which is why it means to manage something poorly.