misbehave
Americanverb (used without object)
-
misbehaves,
present (3rd person singular)
-
misbehaved,
past participle, past
-
misbehaving
present participle
verb (used with object)
-
misbehaves,
present (3rd person singular)
-
misbehaved,
past participle, past
-
misbehaving
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
misbehavesimple
-
misbehavessimple
-
have misbehavedperfect
-
has misbehavedperfect
-
am misbehavingprogressive
-
are misbehavingprogressive
-
is misbehavingprogressive
-
have been misbehavingperfect progressive
-
has been misbehavingperfect progressive
Past
-
misbehavedsimple
-
had misbehavedperfect
-
was misbehavingprogressive
-
were misbehavingprogressive
-
had been misbehavingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of misbehave
late Middle English word dating back to 1425–75; see origin at mis- 1, behave
Explanation
When you misbehave, you do something bad. One way to misbehave would be to stand on the roof of your house and throw water balloons at people walking by. Kids are probably most often said to misbehave, although adults misbehave at least as often. A bank executive, for example, might misbehave by embezzling money, and a politician misbehaves when she lies under oath. The meaning of the word is clear once you know that the prefix mis- means "bad or wrong," from Old English. When you combine it with behave, you get bad behavior.
Vocabulary lists containing misbehave
List 5
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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.
See Examples For:
The US's position as the world's largest economy and the dollar being the world's reserve currency gives the US a "much longer runway to fiscally misbehave" than other countries, El-Erian says.
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026
He explained that people might misbehave if the cameras were present.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 29, 2026
Prodigy City is located in what was formerly Thailand, where the series was filmed, giving every character, human and otherwise, plenty of space to hide and misbehave.
From Salon ● Aug. 5, 2025
Even amoral or timorous lawyers will hesitate to misbehave if it becomes clear that doing so endangers their livelihood.
From Slate ● Mar. 17, 2025
It was risky to misbehave even a little bit, since our teacher was quite willing to tell our parents.
From "The Boy on the Wooden Box" by Leon Leyson
BB14’s collar shows she has returned to Topanga, where a possible third relocation awaits if she misbehaves.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 17, 2025
The act also says anyone who “shamefully casts away his arms, ammunition, tools, or equipment or misbehaves in such manner as to show cowardice in the presence of the enemy” faces the same penalty.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 24, 2024
In addition, he said he wanted to see an end to Section 21 evictions, which occur when a tenant misbehaves or the landlord wishes to stop renting.
From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2022
In addition to lights, you can even set one up to do something handy like remotely power-cycling your home router when it inevitably misbehaves — even without having to get up from the couch.
From The Verge ● Jun. 24, 2022
And if this is done to an empire, will a little republic be excused when it misbehaves?
From The Transvaal from Within A Private Record of Public Affairs by Sir Percy Fitzpatrick
The Mogwai and his misbehaved progeny debuted in the 1984 holiday classic “Gremlins” and returned in the 1990 follow-up, “Gremlins 2: The New Batch.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2026
In August 2021, Ms Khan - then a lawmaker from the Workers' Party - claimed that she had accompanied a sexual assault victim to the police station and alleged police misbehaved towards the victim.
From BBC ● Mar. 19, 2024
They also said Mr. Crumbley, now 17, had misbehaved in jail, calling “into question whether this defendant can ever be rehabilitated.”
From New York Times ● Jul. 27, 2023
Fans flooded the field, tore down a goal post, ripped up chunks of turf and misbehaved as if transported to joy long denied.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 28, 2023
For three days straight, every time I or another boy misbehaved, we had to go over there and chop wood.
From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns
A top lawmaker from Australia's far-right One Nation party has grabbed headlines after exploding at a misbehaving dog as he was grilled on live TV.
From Barron's ● Jul. 21, 2026
In their defence, England can say they have had the worst of the ball misbehaving - Smith and Jacob Bethell were both bowled by shooters.
From BBC ● Jun. 5, 2026
I recently watched a family member gently correct a misbehaving child: “Why are you doing that? Stop. Please stop.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 15, 2026
Fairlie had vowed last year to table secondary legislation that would allow Transport Scotland to suspend or withdraw free passes from misbehaving passengers.
From BBC ● Feb. 17, 2026
Grown-ups flinch like misbehaving kids, guiltily lapsing into silence.
From "The 57 Bus" by Dashka Slater
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
