misgenerate

M3I1S1G2E1N1E1R1A1T1E1

verb

To generate incorrectly.

Scrabble 14

Meanings

verbmisgenerate (third-person singular simple present misgenerates, present participle misgenerating, simple past and past participle misgenerated)

present singular third person misgenerates · participle present misgenerating · participle past misgenerated · past misgenerated

  1. To generate incorrectly.

    In the case of cyclicity what requires an explanation is why a grammar of English, which incorporates (53) in some form, does not misgenerate all the SCC violations discussed above.

    2007, Robert Freidin, Generative Grammar: Theory and its History
    2 more examples

    The evidence was misinterpreted —aside from the fact that it was misgenerated in terms of research design — and that misinterpretation was replicated in study after study after study for about 35 years.

    1990, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Education and Labor. Subcommittee on Select Education, Hearing on the Office of Educational Research and Improvement, page 78

    A child who encounters English (1) and mistakenly takes it to be a V2 construction would acquire the wrong grammar and would then misgenerate V2 sentences that are ungrammatical in English (e.g., *Me saw John, with the object in SpecCP).

    1999, Elaine C. Klein, Gita Martohardjono, The Development of Second Language Grammars, page 364

Origin

Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

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