Meanings
present singular third person misapplies · participle present misapplying · participle past misapplied · past misapplied
- To apply incorrectly; to misuse.
It may be that the jury in this case have misapplied the rule laid down by this Court, but not in favour of the defendants. I cannot help thinking they might well have held the watercourse to be the true boundary line between the two properties.
1913, Sir Frederick Pollock, Robert Campbell, Oliver Augustus Saunders, The Revised Reports
Synonyms & antonyms
verbapply to a wrong thing or person; apply badly or incorrectly
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*mey-?
- Proto-Indo-European*meyth₂-
- Proto-Germanic*missaz
- Proto-Germanic*missa-
- Proto-West Germanic*missa-
- Old Englishmis-
- Middle Englishmys-
- Englishmis-
- Latinapplicō
- Old Frenchapplier
- Middle Englishaplien
- Englishapply
- Englishmisapply
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with misapply
All rhymes →Cite this entry
misapply. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/misapply
“misapply.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/misapply. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “misapply,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/misapply.
Source: misapply on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.