misfit

[mis-fit, mis-fit, mis-fit, mis-fit]

verb (used with or without object)

misfitted, misfitting 

1. to fit badly.

noun

1. something that fits badly, such as a garment that is too large or too small.

2. a person who is not suited or is unable to adjust to the circumstances of a particular situation.

   She was a misfit in that job after her big promotion.

misfit

noun

1. a person not suited in behaviour or attitude to a particular social environment

2. something that does not fit or fits badly

verb

1. to fail to fit or be fitted

Word History and Origins

Origin of misfit¹

First recorded in 1815–25; mis- ¹ + fit ¹

Example Sentences

"They're all misfits like me. Like all of us. We feel we never belong. We feel self-hatred. All of us are the same. I'm not alone."

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In a 2022 memoir, “It’s Not Where You Start… It’s Where You Finish,” Brown recalled feeling like a misfit in her small town.

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Like Clarence in “It’s a Wonderful Life,” Gabriel is a bit of a woebegone misfit in a long coat who needs assistance from the humans he is supposed to be assisting.

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Was “Boots” going to be “Private Benjamin,” some graceless sitcom about a misfit soldier?

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He skipped his college graduation from Suffolk University in Boston last year to move to San Francisco—the kind of city where “brilliant misfits have a place,” he said—and founded an AI finance startup.

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Related Words

• bohemian 
• dissenter 
• dropout 
• eccentric 
• freak 
• oddball 
• outsider 
• weirdo