misdifferentiate

verb

To fail to differentiate correctly.

Scrabble 25

Meanings

verbmisdifferentiate (third-person singular simple present misdifferentiates, present participle misdifferentiating, simple past and past participle misdifferentiated)

present singular third person misdifferentiates · participle present misdifferentiating · participle past misdifferentiated · past misdifferentiated

  1. To fail to differentiate correctly.

    In the absence of Mxxl, cranial neural crest-derived mesenchyme consequently fails to proliferate and misdifferentiates (Han et al., 2003a).

    2008, Charles J. Epstein, Robert P. Erickson, Anthony Joseph Wynshaw-Boris, Inborn Errors of Development, page 705
    2 more examples

    Sumoylation-deficient Drosophila lesswright mutants have been shown to induce overproduction of hemocytes and form melanotic tumors whereas Ubc9 mutations activate progenitors to misdifferentiate, become hyperplastic, and develop microtumors [172, 173].

    2013, Theodoulakis Christofi, Yiorgos Apidianakis, “Drosophila and the Hallmarks of Cancer”, in Andreas Vilcinskas, editor, Yellow Biotechnology I: Insect Biotechnologie in Drug Discovery and Preclinical Research, page 100

    Mesenchymal stem cells of patients with ossification are thought to misdifferentiate into osteoblasts instead of target ligament cells because they have high osteogenic ability.

    2020, Ken-Ichi Furakawa, Shunfu Chin, Toru Asari, Kanichiro Wada, Gentaro Kumagai, Yasuyuki Ishibashi, “Ectopic Ossification of Human Spinal Ligaments Caused by Mesenchymal Stem Cell Abnormalities”, in Atsushi Okawa, Morio Matsumoto, Motoki Iwasaki, editors, OPLL: Ossification of the Posterior Longitudinal Ligament, page 47

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*mey-?
  2. Proto-Indo-European*meyth₂-
  3. Proto-Germanic*missaz
  4. Proto-Germanic*missa-
  5. Proto-West Germanic*missa-
  6. Old Englishmis-
  7. Middle Englishmys-
  8. Englishmis-
  9. Proto-Indo-European*dwóh₁
  10. Proto-Indo-European*trísinflu.
  11. Proto-Indo-European*d(w)is-
  12. Proto-Italic*dis-
  13. Latindis-
  14. Proto-Indo-European*bʰer-
  15. Proto-Indo-European*bʰéreti
  16. Proto-Italic*ferō
  17. Latinferō
  18. Latindifferō
  19. Latindifferēns
  20. Latindifferentia
  21. New Latindifferentiō
  22. New Latindifferentiātus
  23. Englishdifferentiate
  24. Englishmisdifferentiate

From mis- + differentiate.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

misdifferentiate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/misdifferentiate

MLA

“misdifferentiate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/misdifferentiate. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “misdifferentiate,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/misdifferentiate.

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