misrule
Americannoun
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bad or unwise rule; misgovernment.
-
disorder or lawlessness.
verb (used with object)
verb
noun
-
inefficient or inhumane government
-
disorder
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of misrule
1300–50; Middle English misreulen (v.), misreule (noun). See mis- 1, rule
Vocabulary lists containing misrule
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 April 1930, Gandhi concluded his pivotal salt march, breaking the British monopoly on salt production - a charged symbol of colonial misrule.
From BBC ● Nov. 29, 2025
Nigeria's election next week marks nearly a quarter century of democracy in Africa's most populous nation, which in previous decades had become a byword for coups and military misrule.
From Reuters ● Feb. 17, 2023
Just ask Haitians in Miami who have long suffered under terror and misrule, or ask the Central Americans who fled civil wars.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 28, 2022
They accuse him and his powerful family, which includes several siblings who until recently held Cabinet positions, of precipitating the crisis through corruption and misrule.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 8, 2022
Three centuries of rule or misrule make a considerable impression on any people.
From Prowling about Panama by Miller, George A.
They also want an overhaul of a system of governance, saying successive administrations since independence from Britain in 1948 have misruled the country leading to economic and social crises.
From Seattle Times ● May 29, 2022
Mr Kabila has misruled Congo for the past 17 years, after he took over from his father, who was shot by a bodyguard.
From Economist ● Jun. 1, 2017
It is also remarkable that Miss Suu Kyi should sit down and scribble on banknotes with a man who misruled her country for so long.
From Economist ● Dec. 10, 2015
There will be no dramatic moment of closure on the era of Muhammad Hosni al-Sayyid Mubarak, the man who ruled and misruled Egypt for 30 years before being overthrown in early 2011.
From Newsweek ● Jun. 25, 2012
To Solon, now acknowledged to be the wisest and most famous of the Athenians, the tyrants who had long misruled Athens turned, when they found the people in rebellion against their authority.
From Historic Tales, vol 10 (of 15) The Romance of Reality by Morris, Charles
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.
