misbehave
verb (used without object)
to behave badly or improperly.
were misbehaving
-
past progressiveof misbehave.past progressive
Used to describe an ongoing action or continuous state that was happening at a specific time in the past.
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.
Once I was taking the kids to SeaWorld and they were misbehaving in the car.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 4, 2026
There were misbehaving chatbots, crypto foibles and bank failures.
From New York Times ● Dec. 25, 2023
"If you were misbehaving, he'd tell you off. He was a bit motherly like that."
From BBC ● Jul. 3, 2022
When his boys were misbehaving, their mother, his first wife, would tell him to go in and lay down the law, but on the rare occasions he did, it didn’t go well.
From The Guardian ● Sep. 16, 2017
Papas became cross and stingy, and mammas insinuated that daughters were misbehaving.
From Sir Harry Hotspur of Humblethwaite by Anthony Trollope
