misfit
Americanverb (used with or without object)
noun
-
something that fits badly, such as a garment that is too large or too small.
-
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.
noun
-
a person not suited in behaviour or attitude to a particular social environment
-
something that does not fit or fits badly
verb
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of misfit
Explanation
A person who just can't seem to fit in, no matter how hard they try, is called a misfit. If all of your friends are great dancers, but you are awkward and uncoordinated with no sense of rhythm, you might feel like a misfit. Often, people who are misfits as kids eventually find other misfits to be friends with: suddenly, because they've found a group that accepts them and makes them feel comfortable; they're not misfits anymore. In the early nineteenth century, the word misfit meant "a garment that fits badly," but by the end of the 1800s it had come to primarily mean "outcast" or "oddball." The fit in both cases is wrong, thus the prefix mis-, or "wrong."
Vocabulary lists containing misfit
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Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Prefixes: mis-
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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.
See Examples For:
And it was delightful to see him exchange quirky misfit sparks with Salonga during their duet of “Suddenly Seymour,” one of the rare moments when the singers were allowed to join forces.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 22, 2026
In these final days on the campaign trail, Massie's events have seemed a bit like a collection of misfit toys.
From BBC ● May 18, 2026
And it’s natural to be upset at an author for poisoning the once-beautiful misfit haven she created.
From Salon ● Apr. 2, 2026
Anyone who’s ever felt like an oddball or unappreciated genius will identify with the misfit Mitchells and their pet Monchi, who appears to be more goblin than dog.
From Salon ● Dec. 24, 2025
It might have been nice, but I knew it wasn’t going to happen for the misfit in the stands no matter how good I was feeling.
From "Anthem of a Reluctant Prophet" by Joanne Proulx
Mr. Paré-Poupart is in his element when describing the men with whom he’s worked, misfits all yet high-functioning pros in the mucky métier they’ve chosen for themselves.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
They are not misfits exactly — Deering knows what she’s doing as does her team, including the ambitious Det.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 8, 2026
A ragtag group of Duffer Brothers misfits teaming up to fight off eldritch horror might be the last safe bet in television.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 8, 2026
Mr. Hazzard also profiles the company’s intrepid misfits who would make the daring trip.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 20, 2026
Alas, this gaggle of uncoordinated misfits was rounded up each week and made to play some sort of sport against each other.
From "Ugly" by Robert Hoge
Director Guillermo del Toro called him "one of the patron saints of all misfitted, weird, maladjusted, wonderful, miraculous oddities".
From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2023
Richmond’s mayor got busy hiring cranes, history birthed another amalgam, and the statues have wound up pared from six to a misfitted two: Ashe and Robert E. Lee.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 10, 2020
His life, his art, were sadly misfitted with masks—though Nietzsche says: "All that is profound loves the mask"; and the symbolism of the Orient completed the disintegration of his baffling personality.
From Ivory Apes and Peacocks by Huneker, James
Virginia is at once the most thorough and the most pathetic picture extant of the American woman as Victorianism conceived and shaped and misfitted her.
From Contemporary American Novelists (1900-1920) by Doren, Carl Van
If he can not persuade him to come to the dispensary and take medicine there is an end to the matter, and he may justly conclude that he is misfitted to his vocation.
From The Shadow On The Dial, and Other Essays 1909 by Howes, S. O. (Silas Orrin)
Bras have been misfitting for years; suppliers failing to approximate women’s actual shapes.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 26, 2018
Suddenly, all the misfitting parts of me came into an orderly pattern, and there wasn’t anything to lose by following it.
From Salon ● Apr. 20, 2014
When a two-suiter faces a misfitting hand, it is bad news for that side.
From New York Times ● Jan. 26, 2014
Through the body of their Freudian existence, O'Neill has rammed the misfitting dramatic skeleton of the Greek trilogy, Oresteia.
From Time Magazine Archive
Larkin had just that day secured a misfitting regulation issue uniform from the Supply Officer, Robinson, and the group had been having a great deal of fun at his expense.
From Aces Up by Clarke, Covington
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.
