misgiving
Americannoun
noun
Synonym Usage
See apprehension.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of misgiving
Explanation
If you have misgivings about something, it means you're worried that it's not a good idea. Trying to fall asleep the night before a test, you might have misgivings about having studied so little. Misgivings are feelings of doubt you experience about something before you do it. As you get closer to the time you actually get on the airplane, you might begin to have misgivings about traveling far away to go to college, or you might have misgivings about joining the army to pay for your education.
Vocabulary lists containing misgiving
100 Words Every Middle Schooler Should Know
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The Crucible
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A Raisin in the Sun
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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:
Despite their misgiving, both Lancaster and Wilson publicly urged their colleagues to ratify the tentative agreement, saying that rejecting it wouldn’t lead to better outcomes.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 29, 2023
Her biggest misgiving is the hoodie-wearing persona that might appeal to the working class.
From New York Times ● Oct. 30, 2022
And it was my primary misgiving about the entire project, right?
From Salon ● May 29, 2022
A helicopter pilot worries whether his chopper is up to the chore of rescuing downed pilots; "beneath the bravado, he had misgiving about the primitive machine he was tasked to fly."
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 4, 2015
With some vague misgiving that she might get upon the table then and there and die at once, the complete realisation of the ghastly waxwork at the Fair, I shrank under her touch.
From "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens
But many women who have become first lady of California and the nation have expressed misgivings about taking on such a role.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 7, 2026
If the D&B C-suite had any initial misgivings about putting their chips on raves, no one I spoke to blinked.
From Slate ● Jun. 25, 2026
Even some within the ATF had misgivings, worrying that the policy would strain the agency’s relations with law-abiding dealers and make them less likely to offer alerts on suspicious behavior by buyers.
From Salon ● Jun. 2, 2026
Whatever my misgivings about the 680 SL’s seemliness, I soon met a lady who convinced me I was wrong.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 2, 2026
With deep misgivings Olmsted had left the work in the care of his superintendent, Rudolf Ulrich, whom he had come to distrust.
From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
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.
