miscast
Americanverb (used with object)
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to assign an unsuitable role to (an actor).
Tom was miscast as Romeo.
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to allot (a role) to an unsuitable actor.
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to select unsuitable actors for (a play, motion picture, or the like).
verb
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to cast badly
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(often passive)
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to cast (a role or the roles) in (a play, film, etc) inappropriately
Falstaff was certainly miscast
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to assign an inappropriate role to
he was miscast as Othello
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Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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miscastsimple
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miscastssimple
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have miscastperfect
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has miscastperfect
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am miscastingprogressive
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are miscastingprogressive
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is miscastingprogressive
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have been miscastingperfect progressive
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has been miscastingperfect progressive
Past
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miscastsimple
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had miscastperfect
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was miscastingprogressive
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were miscastingprogressive
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had been miscastingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of miscast
1925–30; mis- 1 + cast (in sense “to select or assign actors”)
Vocabulary lists containing miscast
Theater - Introductory
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Theater - Middle School
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Theater - High School
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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.
That instinct, he told me, comes from a lifetime of feeling miscast in American politics.
From Slate • Apr. 29, 2026
The problem is that the issue has been miscast.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 27, 2026
By contrast, Jay Leno seems miscast as Ed Sullivan, strangely rendering the legendary showman into a gangster persona.
From Salon • Jan. 23, 2025
He’s a fine actor, he’s just badly miscast.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 7, 2024
It takes more than a dozen crewmen to lift the woefully miscast Liberty Bell to the railing.
From "Challenger Deep" by Neal Shusterman
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.
