misbehavior
Americannoun
-
misbehaviors
plural
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of misbehavior
Explanation
When you do something wrong or bad, that's misbehavior. If your little brother hides your homework, intentionally dumps his cereal on the floor, and draws on the walls with permanent marker, you might say he's an expert in misbehavior. Whether an activity is mere naughtiness or more significant misconduct, it all falls under the category of misbehavior. When a politician pays someone to stay quiet about his misbehavior, he's added additional misbehavior to the record. If you know that behavior means the way you act, it's easy to see what happens when you add the prefix mis-, meaning "bad".
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:
If you’re not sure how much misbehavior a few friends can get up to at a luxury resort spa, you haven’t met Isla Fisher’s Mel.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
Schools and districts need a standard for judging any discipline policy—one that asks what the misbehavior is accomplishing for the child, and whether the school’s response changes it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
Then the pandemic hit, and as kids navigated tough situations at home, isolation, more screen time and school closures, misbehavior got worse.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 17, 2026
Some states are taking a different approach to misbehavior, saying that the answer is to bring in more consequences and give teachers more power to punish disruptive students.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 17, 2026
Anytime my extra energy wasn’t burned off, it would find its way into general naughtiness and misbehavior.
From "Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood" by Trevor Noah
Tellingly, this is the only time you really see Tomas at work, but his personal and professional misbehaviors turn out to be very much of a piece.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 2, 2023
In December, the principal ordered a disciplinary hearing, citing his "multiple misbehaviors."
From Salon ● Dec. 22, 2022
BlackRock Inc Chief Executive Larry Fink said on Wednesday that there appear to have been "misbehaviors" by the now-bankrupt FTX crypto exchange, but that the technology behind crypto is relevant for the future.
From Reuters ● Nov. 30, 2022
He also worked to repeal 50-a, the law that shielded the misbehaviors of the police from the public for so long.
From New York Times ● May 28, 2021
She concluded that instead of being punished out of their misbehaviors they were laughed out of them.
From Evolution Of The Japanese, Social And Psychic by Sidney Lewis Gulick
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.
