verb ·2 syllables ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb

1. 1
   To spend poorly, incorrectly or unwisely.

   "I misspent my youth making friends and meeting people. Wait a minute: that's the secret of my success!"

2. 2
   spend (money or other resources) unwisely wordnet
3. 3
   spend time badly or unwisely wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

fritter

Example

More examples

"The money that politicians misspend isn't theirs, but ours."

Etymology

From Middle English misspenden, equivalent to mis- + spend.

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