What does "misnegotiate" mean?

To make a mistake when trying to make one's way over (difficult terrain); to misstep or stumble when trying to avoid (obstacles).

Misnegotiate

verb

verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Verb

1
To make a mistake when trying to make one's way over (difficult terrain); to misstep or stumble when trying to avoid (obstacles).
"If they missed seeing one, or if they misnegotiated their path around another, we would be bounced roughly into the air."
2
To cope with or handle badly.
"Although the protagonists of his films often misnegotiate risk, putting themselves recklessly in the path of psychotic killers, Argento navigates the professionally dangerous waters of genre cinema with elegance and intelligence."
3
To argue or represent one's position badly when coming to an agreement.
"He feels straight fees can be so seriously misnegotiated that profitability does not necessarily follow."

"If they missed seeing one, or if they misnegotiated their path around another, we would be bounced roughly into the air."

From mis- + negotiate.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.