mismatch

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noun

mis·​match ˈmis-ˌmach 

plural mismatches

: a faulty or unsuitable match

New England plays St. Louis in Super Bowl XXXVI this evening, and on the face of it, this game is a mismatch, a blowout waiting to happen.

—William C. Rhoden

She is blood type O, and the donor heart and lungs she received in the first operation were blood type A. That mismatch triggered rejection by her immune system.

—Dan Vergano

mismatch

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verb

mis·​match ˌmis-ˈmach 

mismatched; mismatching

transitive verb

: to match (two people or things) wrongly or unsuitably

Let's say that you are afraid of boring your audience. One cause is mismatching the audience's need and the level of detail you provide.

—Liz Reyer

Examples of mismatch in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

The more mismatch with solar time, the higher the risk of health problems, Dr. Karin Johnson, a neurology professor at UMass Chan Medical School-Baystate who is on the board of Save Standard Time, a nonprofit that advocates for permanent standard time, told NBC News in 2022. —Rebecca Cohen, NBC News, 2 Nov. 2024

And frankly, this reason seems trivial compared to Brock Purdy’s three interceptions, the Niners’ defense’s failure to stop Patrick Mahomes on third down, and the lopsided mismatches that Kansas City boasted on both lines of scrimmage. —Dieter Kurtenbach, The Mercury News, 21 Oct. 2024

Verb

There’s also a new state law in play in California this year, meant to give voters more time to fix their ballot if there’s a missing or mismatched signature, which could also delay official results. —Kaitlyn Schallhorn, Orange County Register, 5 Nov. 2024

Reporting results: By law, county election officials must wait until five calendar days after the election to count ballots with missing or mismatched signatures. —Sasha Hupka, The Arizona Republic, 4 Nov. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

Noun

1606, in the meaning defined above

Verb

1582, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

mismatch

verb

mis·​match

(ˈ)mis-ˈmach

: to match unsuitably or badly

mismatch noun