mismatch
Americanverb (used with object)
-
mismatches,
present (3rd person singular)
-
mismatched,
past participle, past
-
mismatching
present participle
noun
-
mismatches
plural
verb
noun
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
mismatchsimple
-
mismatchessimple
-
have mismatchedperfect
-
has mismatchedperfect
-
am mismatchingprogressive
-
are mismatchingprogressive
-
is mismatchingprogressive
-
have been mismatchingperfect progressive
-
has been mismatchingperfect progressive
Past
-
mismatchedsimple
-
had mismatchedperfect
-
was mismatchingprogressive
-
were mismatchingprogressive
-
had been mismatchingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of mismatch
Explanation
When two things (or people) don't work well together or correspond with each other, it's a mismatch. If there's a mismatch between the amount of free time you have and the hours of exercise your puppy needs, you might want to hire a dog walker. There might be a mismatch between workers' skills and the actual jobs that are available, or a mismatch between your aunt and uncle, who seem totally unsuited for each other. Mismatch is also a verb that means "match up badly," like when you mismatch your red shirt with your purple pants. Sometimes sports matches or games are called mismatches too, when one team is clearly superior to the other.
Vocabulary lists containing mismatch
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:
There is a "mismatch", he said, between each hospital's waiting lists, organ availability, capacity to carry out surgeries and the availability of operating theatres.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
That mismatch may be a warning sign, since massive AI capex could put downward pressure on valuations if investors think that the spending is consuming too much cash without generating enough returns.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 4, 2026
“It also helps reduce the mismatch between pricing and prevailing physical-market conditions.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026
This term has also revealed the profound philosophical mismatch between the court and the public.
From Slate ● Jul. 29, 2026
Elizabeth and her friend are a total mismatch.
From "A Place at the Table" by Saadia Faruqi and Laura Shovan
Similarly, longtime HSI insiders cautioned that using the agency’s databases and tools to search these lists would yield mismatches and wildly inflated results.
From Salon ● Aug. 15, 2026
He added that supply and demand mismatches will strengthen the company’s pricing model and make it more sustainable.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 13, 2026
Postal Service records and mismatches render a voter inactive and unable to vote until they provide adequate information.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 12, 2026
The first-round of the playoffs usually produces a bunch of mismatches that lack oomph.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 12, 2026
However, no changes have been made in this e-text for these mismatches.
From Adequate Preparation for the Teacher of Biological Sciences in Secondary Schools by James Daley McDonald
What follows — the drained reserves, the mismatched oil, the strained grid and the price we all pay — is the fallout.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 21, 2026
Servers emerge from the kitchen carrying mismatched plates of chilaquiles and, on weekends, bowls of hominy-packed, spicy menudo soup that’s spent at least six hours on the stove.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 11, 2026
Officials estimate about 5 ballots remain to be counted and 17,650 are waiting to cure a missing or mismatched signature.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 27, 2026
The challenge became even more difficult when matching and mismatched color words appeared together in the same list.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 10, 2026
The guy who normally lived there was a University of Chicago law student and he’d furnished it like any good student would, with mismatched garage-sale finds.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
Retro-themed decor is in, with trees jam-packed full of bold, mismatching decorations, as more people try to recreate a festive season from their childhood.
From BBC ● Dec. 20, 2025
Among them facsimiles of relevant ephemera are bound in mismatching formats: foldout drawings, transparencies, die-cuttings and pamphlets whose archival relevance you must flip through to ascertain.
From New York Times ● Jan. 16, 2024
"We find that user engagement increases when the national headquarters lead the production of content and the local accounts follow either by tweeting to a matching or mismatching audience, depending on timing in the operation."
From Science Daily ● Oct. 10, 2023
Flowers that bloom in early balmy weather run the risk of mismatching with their primary pollinators—such as hummingbirds or bees—which can follow non-climate-dependent cues such as day length.
From Scientific American ● Mar. 22, 2023
I mark the ground in squares of one rod and plant in every other crossing, mismatching to make the trees zigzag.
From The Apple by Various
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.
