mis-sing

/mɪsˈsɪŋ/

verb

To sing incorrectly.

Meanings

verbmis-sing (third-person singular simple present mis-sings, present participle mis-singing, simple past mis-sang, past participle mis-sung)

present singular third person mis-sings · participle present mis-singing · past mis-sang · participle past mis-sung

  1. To sing incorrectly.

    And remember this other immortal line of the same song you misheard—not to mention mis-sang? 'Olive, the other reindeer.'

    2014, Christie Ridgway, Always Mine
    4 more examples

    The ragas are personified, like the devatā of a mantram; so that to mis-sing a rāga or rāginī is to break the limbs of a god or goddess.

    1916, Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy, Rajput Painting - Volume 1, page 65

    I watch and listen to children learning this little song, and through repeated observation of the videotapes and examination of the way the children sing or mis-sing the song, I plumb new depths of understanding music and learning.

    1998, Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, page 48

    Still he apprehends that the song has been mis-sung or that he has been scolded for doing something which he did not do, and this apprehending must be classified as belonging to thinking.

    2010, R.F. Dearden, Paul H. Hirst, R.S. Peters, Education and the Development of Reason

    She found him a piano teacher so he could learn some of the songs in the music books – his missinging of the tunes was driving her crazy.

    2014, C.P.T. Jennings, A Conspiracy of Goodness

Origin

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with mis-sing

All rhymes →
Cite this entry
APA

mis-sing. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mis-sing

MLA

“mis-sing.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mis-sing. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “mis-sing,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mis-sing.

Source: mis-sing on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.