mismanage

American  

[mis-man-ij] / mɪsˈmæn ɪdʒ /

verb (used with or without object)

mismanaged, mismanaging

1. to manage incompetently or dishonestly.

   to mismanage funds.

   Synonyms:

   maladminister, botch, bungle, mishandle

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mismanage British  

/ ˌmɪsˈmænɪdʒ /

verb

1. (tr) to manage badly or wrongly

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Other Word Forms

• mismanagement noun
• mismanager noun

Etymology

Origin of mismanage

First recorded in 1680–90; mis- ¹ + manage

Explanation

To mismanage is to handle something badly. A company will go bankrupt if its leaders mismanage it. If you mismanage your allowance, you’ll be out of money in no time. To manage is to handle or run something, so to mismanage is to make a mess of something you're doing or running. A general manager could mismanage a basketball team by trading away good players. The President can mismanage the country by making political and economic mistakes. You can mismanage your time if you goof off and don't get your work done. To mismanage is to mishandle.

Example Sentences

Deirdre said the reason people are going to food banks is "not because we mismanage money. It's not because we can't budget. It's because there isn't enough to budget."

From BBC • May 24, 2025

“We didn’t have any money to mismanage, because we didn’t have any money,” Spence said of the JFK8 campaign.

From Seattle Times • Jul. 14, 2022

As he approaches a likely third term in power that would start next year, it could be politically damaging if his government were to mismanage Evergrande.

From New York Times • Sep. 26, 2021

“We’re in control of the game, and then we mismanage the puck four times in the last seven, eight minutes,” Coach Todd Reirden said.

From Washington Post • Nov. 1, 2018

Therefore, the more troops he had to mismanage the better.

From On the Trail of Grant and Lee by Hill, Frederick Trevor

Related Words

• botch
• bungle
• mishandle
• misinterpret