mismanage

verb

mis·​man·​age ˌmis-ˈma-nij 

mismanaged; mismanaging

transitive verb

: to manage (something) wrongly or poorly

mismanage a business

… started thinking that maybe employees are sometimes mismanaged because they let themselves be mismanaged. They don't fight back.

—A. J. Anderson

… even those professional Pollyannas who publicly find reason to praise the current municipal administration shake their heads in private and wonder how long we can go on deliberately mismanaging our affairs.

—Brendan Gill

mismanagement

ˌmis-ˈma-nij-mənt 

noun

plural mismanagements

financial mismanagement of the company

Synonyms

• maladminister
• misconduct
• misgovern
• mishandle
• misrule

Examples of mismanage in a Sentence

the business was mismanaged so seriously that it eventually had to declare bankruptcy

Recent Examples on the Web

In that lawsuit, Frank provided affidavits to make the case that Green was mismanaging the company and that he should be removed as CEO. —Rachel Brodsky, TIME, 5 Dec. 2024

But after being neglected and mismanaged for decades, the underdog river is about to make a comeback. —Caitlin Looby, Journal Sentinel, 4 Dec. 2024

But there’s a growing feeling among Democratic lawmakers that the Biden administration completely mismanaged the huge surge of migrants across the southern border and that this also hurt their party dearly. —Alexander Bolton, The Hill, 29 Nov. 2024

Stellantis managed to turn off customers to what was one of the hottest and most desirable brands by jacking up prices and mismanaging its lineup. —Chris Isidore, CNN, 21 Nov. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1651, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

mismanage

verb

mis·​man·​age

(ˈ)mis-ˈman-ij

: to manage badly or improperly

mismanagement

-mənt

noun