misaligned
Americanadjective
adjective
Usage
What does misaligned mean? Misaligned describes someone or something that is improperly adjusted or out of its proper form or position. Misaligned is frequently used in a figurative sense, especially to describe goals or ideas that don’t work together. For example, if your parents’ goal for you is to get good grades and your goal is to do as little schoolwork as possible, your parents’ and your goals are likely misaligned because the surest way to get good grades is to do the schoolwork. People might also be figuratively said to be misaligned, especially in relationships of all sorts. If you like staying up late and listening to loud music but your roommate likes going to bed early and a quiet room, the two of you might be misaligned—at least as roommates. Literally, something that is misaligned is out of its normal orientation or order in some way. Picture a row of chairs. If all of them are in a straight line, we say that they are aligned. If some of the chairs are farther forward than others, we say that the row of chairs is misaligned. Two or more things that can be arranged in a specific way in relation to each other, such as in a line or on an angle, can be misaligned. In medicine, one of the most common uses of misaligned is in reference to bones not lining up correctly. When a bone is out of place in the body it can lead to stiffness, pain, and other problems. Example: My teeth were so misaligned that I needed braces to fix them.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of misaligned
First recorded in 1915–20; misalign ( def. ) + -ed 2
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Her statements always seemed misaligned with the evidence, as if she were so convinced of her company’s virtue that she didn’t care about the eerie dissonance between her reality and the world’s.
From Salon ● Oct. 17, 2026
OpenAI said Friday that it is conducting a broad, ongoing review “of misaligned models during training and evaluation” and studying “a high volume of actions” they have taken.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 27, 2026
“People’s expectations are increasingly misaligned with what the apps are actually telling you, and with what weather prediction can tell you in the first place,” he told me.
From Slate ● Aug. 21, 2026
In a policy document, the Cabinet Office said salary information would help jobseekers make informed application decisions, and improve the hiring process for companies by weeding out candidates with "misaligned pay expectations".
From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2026
At one of the bookcases, he gave a misaligned book an orderly little push with his thumb, then passed on.
From "Franny and Zooey" by J. D. Salinger
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