misalter

M3I1S1A1L1T1E1R1

verb

To make a change that leaves (something) worse than before.

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Meanings

verbmisalter (third-person singular simple present misalters, present participle misaltering, simple past and past participle misaltered)

present singular third person misalters · participle present misaltering · participle past misaltered · past misaltered

  1. transitiveTo make a change that leaves (something) worse than before.

    A misaltered line is one not altered correctly.

    1954, The Artist and the Line: A Lexicon of Lineology, page 109
    2 more examples

    These are all, besides those which I fore-specified, which have so "misaltered" the liturgy, that it can no more be known to be itself than the strangely-disguised dames which were mentioned in doctor Hall's reproof.

    1863, Works - Volume 9 -, page 403

    The tailors were busily at work for the men ; fitting and misfitting, altering and misaltering, and making clothes in every possible way except the right one, for right the clothes of man will never be so long as ever they are intended to fit.

    1873, The Coming Man - Volume 1, page 183

Origin

From mis- + alter.

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

lamister
Cite this entry
APA

misalter. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/misalter

MLA

“misalter.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/misalter. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “misalter,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/misalter.

Source: misalter on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.