Misfilm
noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 An error that occurs when microfilming.
"Although rotary cameras are quicker than flat beds, microfilm bureaux often choose to use the latter. This is because preparation time is less; it is not necessary to mend all tears, nor to remove all staples, and there is less chance of misfilms."
- 1 To make an error when microfilming documents.
"But you must record those documents very precisely indeed, because if you happen to misfilm one of those documents, effectively it's lost for all time, because the chances of actually getting back to it must be considered almost nil."
- 2 To make a poor cinematic adaptation of
"Paul Dehn pulled no punches when he talked about 'Misfilming Shakespeare' on May 29th. He was vehement in his dislike of Orson Welles's versions of Macbeth and Othello."
Example
More examples"But you must record those documents very precisely indeed, because if you happen to misfilm one of those documents, effectively it's lost for all time, because the chances of actually getting back to it must be considered almost nil."
Etymology
From mis- + film.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.