misbegotten

Also mis·be·got

[mis-bi-got-n]

adjective

1. unlawfully or irregularly begotten; begotten; born of unmarried parents; illegitimate.

   his misbegotten son.

2. badly conceived, made, or carried out.

   his misbegotten plan.

misbegotten

/ ˌmɪsbɪˈɡɒtən /

adjective

1. unlawfully obtained

   misbegotten gains

2. badly conceived, planned, or designed

   a misbegotten scheme

3. Also: misbegot. literary,  illegitimate; bastard

Word History and Origins

Origin of misbegotten¹

First recorded in 1540–50; mis- ¹ + begotten

Example Sentences

It wasn’t their fault that the wars they found themselves in were misbegotten and mismanaged.

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Thanks to our current misbegotten model of manhood, we are once again arguing about this moral question: Should former Cincinnati Reds player and manager Pete Rose be inducted into Baseball’s Hall of Fame?

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He would redeem his misbegotten career and go out “in a blaze of glory,” as he would put it.

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Musk waded into Euro-politics with all the misbegotten confidence of a person who has gotten obscenely rich on exploiting other people’s ideas without quite having any of his own.

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Before long, however, President George W. Bush’s misbegotten war in Iraq shattered the sense of oneness.

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