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Glite Dictionary
❌ To play badly ❌ A game mistake
to misplay

to misplay

2 6.2
To play badly in a game, sport or music
  • verb
  • /ˈmɪsˌpleɪ/
translation icon : errar
  • The goalkeeper misplayed the ball, resulting in an easy goal for the opposing team.
  • misplay the ball
  • misplay their hand
  • misplayed a grounder

They missed their time, they misplayed it, they shouldn't have, and they've got the majority of their life left.

Examples

  • Starlin Castro misplayed Welington Castillo's low throw.

    Blog text (24)

  • Luis Valbuena misplayed a one-hop liner off the bat of Buster Posey into a single.

    Blog text (6)

  • Never saw an NFL safety misplay both the ball and his man on the same play.

    Blog text (24)

  • Less than 10 minutes later, pressure from Benzema forced center back Carlos Valdes to misplay.

    Blog text (20)

  • The game-tying triple was a fairly easy ball that was badly misplayed by an outfielder who was terribly out of position (should have been much deeper).

    Blog text (20)

  • During the game, the striker misplayed the pass and let the ball slip past him.

  • She misplayed the notes during her piano recital, causing her performance to sound off.

Synonyms

to mishit
vsto misplay
6.0

To strike a ball badly so it goes wrong

refers to performing actions badly in games, music, or sports broadly

How Skillful

to excel
58 3.7
to misplay
2 6.2
to bungle
16 6.8

Surface Forms

misplay infinitive
misplayed past
misplayed past participle
misplaying present participle
misplays third person singular

Morphology

misplay = play (transparent) = mis + play

Formed by productive prefixation mis- + play, meaning 'to play wrongly', which is predictable for learners.

Etymology

Misplay combines mis- 'wrong' with play 'to take part in a game or performance'. So to misplay something is to play or perform it in the wrong or unskillful way.