mis|ery /m I zəri/ (miseries )
1 N‑VAR Misery is great unhappiness. □ All that money brought nothing but sadness and misery and tragedy. □ [+ of ] …the miseries of his youth.
2 N‑UNCOUNT Misery is the way of life and unpleasant living conditions of people who are very poor. □ [+ of ] A tiny, educated elite profited from the misery of their two million fellow countrymen.
3 PHRASE If someone makes your life a misery , they behave in an unpleasant way towards you over a period of time and make you very unhappy. □ …the gangs of kids who make our lives a misery.
4 PHRASE If you put someone out of their misery , you tell them something that they are very anxious to know. [INFORMAL ] □ Please put me out of my misery. How do you do it?
5 PHRASE If you put an animal out of its misery , you kill it because it is sick or injured and cannot be cured or healed.
mi s|ery me m|oir (misery memoirs ) N‑COUNT A misery memoir is a book that someone has written about their own life in which they describe many sad things that happened when they were a child. □ His latest book is a misery memoir about his life in rural Africa.
mis|fire /m I sfa I ə r / (misfires , misfiring , misfired )
1 VERB If a plan misfires , it goes wrong and does not have the results that you intend it to have. □ [V ] Some of their policies had misfired.
2 VERB If an engine misfires , the fuel fails to start burning when it should. □ [V ] The boat's engine misfired after he tried to start it up.
3 VERB If a gun misfires , the bullet is not sent out as it should be when the gun is fired. □ [V ] The gun misfired after one shot and jammed.
mis|fit /m I sf I t/ (misfits ) N‑COUNT A misfit is a person who is not easily accepted by other people, often because their behaviour is very different from that of everyone else. □ I have been made to feel a social and psychological misfit for not wanting children.
mis|for|tune /m I sfɔː r tʃuːn/ (misfortunes ) N‑VAR A misfortune is something unpleasant or unlucky that happens to someone. □ [+ of ] She seemed to enjoy the misfortunes of others. □ He had his full share of misfortune.
mis|giv|ing /m I sg I v I ŋ/ (misgivings ) N‑VAR If you have misgivings about something that is being suggested or done, you feel that it is not quite right, and are worried that it may have unwanted results. □ She had some misgivings about what she was about to do.
mis|guid|ed /m I sga I d I d/ ADJ If you describe an opinion or plan as misguided , you are critical of it because you think it is based on an incorrect idea. You can also describe people as misguided. [DISAPPROVAL ] □ In a misguided attempt to be funny, he manages only offensiveness.
mis|han|dle /m I shæ nd ə l/ (mishandles , mishandling , mishandled ) VERB If you say that someone has mishandled something, you are critical of them because you think they have dealt with it badly. [DISAPPROVAL ] □ [V n] The judge said the police had mishandled the siege. ● mis|han|dling N‑UNCOUNT □ [+ of ] …the Government's mishandling of the economy.
mis|hap /m I shæp/ (mishaps ) N‑VAR A mishap is an unfortunate but not very serious event that happens to someone. □ After a number of mishaps, she did manage to get back to Germany. □ The plot passed off without mishap.
mis|hear /m I sh I ə r / (mishears , mishearing , misheard ) VERB If you mishear what someone says, you hear it incorrectly, and think they said something different. □ [V n] You misheard me, Frank. □ [V ] She must have misheard.
mish|mash /m I ʃmæʃ/ also mish-mash N‑SING [usu a N of n] If something is a mishmash , it is a confused mixture of different types of things. [DISAPPROVAL ] □ The letter was a mish-mash of ill-fitting proposals taken from two different reform plans.
mis|in|form /m I s I nfɔː r m/ (misinforms , misinforming , misinformed ) VERB If you are misinformed , you are told something that is wrong or inaccurate. □ [be V -ed] He has been misinformed by members of his own party. □ [V n] The president accused the media of misinforming the people.
mis|in|for|ma|tion /m I s I nfə r me I ʃ ə n/ N‑UNCOUNT Misinformation is wrong information which is given to someone, often in a deliberate attempt to make them believe something which is not true. □ This was a deliberate piece of misinformation.
mis|in|ter|pret /m I s I ntɜː r pr I t/ (misinterprets , misinterpreting , misinterpreted ) VERB If you misinterpret something, you understand it wrongly. □ [V n] He was amazed that he'd misinterpreted the situation so completely. ● mis|in|ter|pre|ta|tion /m I s I ntɜː r pr I te I ʃ ə n/ (misinterpretations ) N‑VAR □ …a misinterpretation of the aims and ends of socialism.
mis|judge /m I sdʒʌ dʒ/ (misjudges , misjudging , misjudged ) VERB If you say that someone has misjudged a person or situation, you mean that they have formed an incorrect idea or opinion about them, and often that they have made a wrong decision as a result of this. □ [V n] Perhaps I had misjudged him, and he was not so predictable after all.
mis|judg|ment /m I sdʒʌ dʒmənt/ (misjudgments ) in BRIT, also use misjudgement N‑VAR A misjudgment is an incorrect idea or opinion that is formed about someone or something, especially when a wrong decision is made as a result of this. □ …a misjudgment in British foreign policy which had far-reaching consequences. □ Many accidents were due to pilot misjudgement.