miscompile

M3I1S1C3O1M3P3I1L1E1

verb

To compile (put together) incorrectly.

Scrabble 18

Meanings

verbmiscompile (third-person singular simple present miscompiles, present participle miscompiling, simple past and past participle miscompiled)

present singular third person miscompiles · participle present miscompiling · participle past miscompiled · past miscompiled

  1. To compile (put together) incorrectly.

    We found that there were many complaints by the agents and the voters of miscompiled rolls.

    1994, Rāshṭriya Nirvācana Paryavekshaṇa Samiti, Nepāla, Nepal election observation report: mid-term polls, page 147
    2 more examples

    Sufficient data is turned into the Agency but as this data is reviewed and forwarded to area and Central information systems, it seems to get miscompiled through this bureaucratic process.

    1980, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Appropriations. Subcommittee on Dept. of the Interior and Related Agencies, Department of the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations For 1981, page 1283

    It knows how to falsify, to edit, and to miscompile statistics but shouldn't be able to raise living standards to the West's moving average, nor achieve social justice, empowerment, and freedom.

    2009, Steven Rosefielde, Stefan Hedlund, Russia Since 1980, page 151
  2. To compile (generate executable from source code) incorrectly.

    How often did the compiler crash, miscompile, or unexpectedly cost engineering time?

    2012, Jack Ganssle, The Art of Programming Embedded Systems, page 28
    2 more examples

    The replacement code would miscompile the login command so that it would accept either the intended encrypted password or a particular known password.

    1990, Lance J. Hoffman, Rogue programs: viruses, worms, and Trojan horses, page 125

    Figure 3.2 shows a simple modification to the compiler that will deliberately miscompile source whenever a particular pattern is matched. If this were not deliberate, it would be called a compiler "bug." Since it is deliberate, it should be called a "Trojan horse".

    2001, Kevin Bowyer, Ethics and Computing: Living Responsibly in a Computerized World, page 101

Origin

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

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