miscalculate
Americanverb (used with or without object)
verb
Other Word Forms
- miscalculation noun
- miscalculator noun
Etymology
Origin of miscalculate
Explanation
If you add two plus two and get five, you miscalculate. In other words, you've added the numbers incorrectly. You can use the verb miscalculate when you're talking about actual mathematical calculations, or when you measure something in an inexact way and get it wrong. Another way to use the word is to mean "judge incorrectly," which happens when you guess that your grandmother will laugh after sitting on a whoopie cushion, but you guess wrong. Mis, in this word, means "bad or wrong," and calculate means "to compute or estimate."
Vocabulary lists containing miscalculate
mis-
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UCPS 6th Grade Roots List #3
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mis-
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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.
Because of negativity bias, we miscalculate the upsides and downsides of social life.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 12, 2024
Then I mentioned to him what the veteran reporter had said to me about the risk that “confirmation bias” was yet again causing the press corps to miscalculate Trump’s odds of survival.
From Slate • May 20, 2024
Every time any actor decides to roll the iron dice of war, there is a significant chance that they are going to miscalculate.
From Salon • Apr. 17, 2024
Some here in South Korea agree, arguing the spy satellite, by offering accurate data, reduces the odds the isolated Kim regime will miscalculate and start a war.
From Washington Times • Nov. 28, 2023
I ain’t partial to swords—the time on the reverse is too long if you miscalculate your swing—but it’s better than a couple of rusty gardening blades.
From "Dread Nation" by Justina Ireland
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.
