misbehave
Americanverb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
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:
Some blame the rising price of tickets, saying theatergoers feel entitled to misbehave in the same way sports fans feel the price of admission buys them the right to heckle players.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 8, 2026
The saga began in 2021, when WP lawmaker Raeesah Khan claimed in parliament that she had witnessed police misbehave towards a sexual assault victim.
From BBC ● Jan. 15, 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
When government lawyers misbehave, federal judges must be more assertive in the exercise of their powers as members of the judicial branch and as integral players in disciplinary mechanisms of the legal profession.
From Slate ● Mar. 17, 2025
The twins were horribly jealous to hear Baby Max praised by their mother, and decided to misbehave out of spite.
From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood
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
And if he does attend this reunion, you will have lots of support — and many witnesses — if he misbehaves.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 12, 2023
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
The man who misbehaves himself in uniform in public creates a bad impression of the whole command, as a result of which his comrades must suffer.
From Manual of Military Training Second, Revised Edition by Moss, James A. (James Alfred)
She says if a child misbehaved or a class got too hectic, it was often her daughter who was told to leave the room because she could not cope in the situation.
From BBC ● Dec. 30, 2025
In 1934, Alcatraz opened as an official federal prison for men who had made escape attempts from other federal prisons, or otherwise misbehaved.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 5, 2025
The latest developments in the ongoing tribal dispute come on the heels of the backlash Noem faced for writing about killing a hunting dog that misbehaved in her latest book.
From Seattle Times ● May 11, 2024
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
Mate flinched as if she knew she had misbehaved.
From "In the Time of the Butterflies" by Julia Alvarez
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
Punishing a dog for misbehaving when traveling may only result in the dog having negative associations with road trips.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 25, 2026
The organized bar should address judicial referrals of misbehaving government lawyers without hesitation and, when merited, with stringent punishment.
From Slate ● Mar. 17, 2025
John J. Dilulio Jr., a political scientist who was then at Princeton, argued that we were seeing a new kind of juvenile criminal, utterly unlike the misbehaving teens of the past.
From "The 57 Bus" by Dashka Slater
Definitions 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.
