mishap
Americannoun
noun
-
an unfortunate accident
-
bad luck
Etymology
Origin of mishap
Explanation
Don’t cry over spilled milk, it is just a minor mishap — a misfortune. If the surgeon operates on the wrong leg when you go in for knee surgery? Now, that’s a mishap to get upset about. You might assume that hap is short for happening, but it is actually an Old Norse word for "luck." So with mis ("bad") in front of it, it literally means “bad luck.” Mishaps can be accidents of great consequence or minimal consequence. People often say that an event went off “without a mishap,” meaning that it went smoothly. Hopefully this will be the case if you ever get knee surgery.
Vocabulary lists containing mishap
Power Prefix: mis-
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Essential Academic Vocabulary for High School Students, List 3
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ACT Vocabulary List
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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.
After a newsworthy mishap, his agent advises him to lie low, which is impossible for him to do; there is no itch he won’t scratch, and no good advice he’ll actually follow.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 25, 2026
Days after the friendly fire mishap, he and his unit were tasked with clearing bunkers on foot.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 9, 2026
NASA’s report on Boeing’s Starliner crewed flight test cited “confusion over roles” and “lack of trust,” declaring it a Type A mishap.
From Barron's • Feb. 20, 2026
Nasa has labelled the botched 2024 Starliner mission, which left two astronauts stranded in space for months, a "Type A" mishap, on par with fatal shuttle disasters of the past, in a newly published report.
From BBC • Feb. 19, 2026
That settled it, and telling him of Meg’s mishap, Jo gratefully accepted and rushed up to bring down the rest of the party.
From "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott
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.
