mismanage
Americanverb (used with or without object)
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mismanages,
present (3rd person singular)
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mismanaged,
past participle, past
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mismanaging
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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mismanagesimple
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mismanagessimple
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have mismanagedperfect
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has mismanagedperfect
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am mismanagingprogressive
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are mismanagingprogressive
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is mismanagingprogressive
-
have been mismanagingperfect progressive
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has been mismanagingperfect progressive
Past
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mismanagedsimple
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had mismanagedperfect
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was mismanagingprogressive
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were mismanagingprogressive
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had been mismanagingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of mismanage
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.
Vocabulary lists containing mismanage
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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:
In that interview, Ms Yulo said that contrary to allegations, she did not mismanage her son's money and had in fact deposited it at a bank in Manila.
From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2024
“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
I didn’t understand how people with enough money could so easily mismanage it or make monumentally bad financial decisions.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 30, 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
"You shouldn't mismanage your business in this ridiculous manner."
From The End of the Tether by Joseph Conrad
Reporting from The New York Times has highlighted the way that the jail complex mismanages the stationing of its nearly 8,000 uniformed staff members, with some rarely interacting with detainees at all.
From New York Times ● May 9, 2022
Wired’s investigation is a deep dive that demonstrates how your data can be at risk if a massive company mismanages internal access to it or carelessly leaves it open to outsiders.
From The Verge ● Nov. 19, 2021
"It’s not uncommon that a conservator mismanages money and profits off of that," Kaplan said.
From Fox News ● Oct. 1, 2021
I have been very happy sometimes during the past year; and whatever the blind Fate that mismanages the world may elect to demand in payment, I shall not haggle.
From The Cords of Vanity A Comedy of Shirking by James Branch Cabell
And it's many a tear He must have shed at the way England mismanages it.
From Peg O' My Heart by J. Hartley Manners
"Prime Minister Anthony Albanese put her in this process. But it has been mismanaged by Sussan Ley."
From BBC ● Jan. 21, 2026
U.S. prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into Powell over allegations that he mismanaged a building renovation.
From Barron's ● Jan. 16, 2026
He also mismanaged promotional cards, gave unpurchased merchandise to clients and abused the company’s corporate credit card, according to the complaint.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 12, 2025
Organizers wanted to dedicate the money to a specific cause so it wasn’t mismanaged.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 10, 2025
You’re still not facing up to how badly you have mismanaged your business.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
Former workers said development of the game was chaotic and accused its boss, Leslie Benzies, of mismanaging the studio.
From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2026
The group were were being punished for "mismanaging" the battery exchanges for Spiro motorbikes, which they denied.
From Barron's ● Jun. 30, 2026
Adam Wyden’s hedge fund, ADW Capital, also accuses Driven’s majority owner, private-equity firm Roark Capital, of mismanaging the business in the letter.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 25, 2026
But many Cubans blame their own leaders for mismanaging the economy — and straying from the ideals of Castro’s revolution.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 22, 2026
For weeks before Garfield's death, medical journals and general newspapers had accused Bliss of mismanaging his care.
From "Ambushed!" by Gail Jarrow
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
