Mismaneuver
noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A maneuver that does not go as intended. countable
"The second is the probability of a mismaneuver in the face of an impending accident."
- 2 The act of mismaneuvering. uncountable
"Through political maneuver (or mismaneuver) the act, in its full civil rights thrust, was joined to outlaw both race and sex discrimination in its coverage, but only in its title in regards to employment."
- 1 To maneuver in a way that has an unfortunate result.
"Maude Purvis was the granddaughter of an American Southern gentleman, Robert Louis Earle Purvis, who somehow mismaneuvered himself into association with the Yankees during the Civil War and quickly thereafter remaneuvered himself to distant Batavia where he found a happy and prosperous haven ."
Example
More examples"Maude Purvis was the granddaughter of an American Southern gentleman, Robert Louis Earle Purvis, who somehow mismaneuvered himself into association with the Yankees during the Civil War and quickly thereafter remaneuvered himself to distant Batavia where he found a happy and prosperous haven ."
Etymology
From mis- + maneuver.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.