mishapen

M3I1S1H4A1P3E1N1

A form of misshapen — Having a bad, ugly or awkward shape; deformed; malformed; ill-shapen.

Scrabble 15

Meanings

adjectivemishapen (comparative more mishapen, superlative most mishapen)

comparative more mishapen · superlative most mishapen

  1. obsoleteObsolete form of misshapen.

    This miſhapen knaue; / His Mother was a Witch, […]

    1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i], page 18, column 2
    3 more examples

    Hath not dame Nature her ſelfe denied vnto vs her operation, in ſending fooꝛth aboꝛtiues, vntimely births, vggleſome monſters and fearfull miſhapen Creatures of God are angrie with vs and thꝛeaten vs with deſtruction, and yet we are nothing at all amẽded (alas) that ſhal become of vs?

    1583 May 1, Phillip Stubbes, The Anatomie of Abuses: Contayning a Discoverie, or Briefe Summarie of Such Notable Vices and Imperfections, as Now Raigne in Many Christian Countreyes of the Worlde: […], London: […] [John Kingston for] Richard Iones, →OCLC, signature Q.ij., verso

    ‘Why then to me this reſtleſs World’s but Hell, / Till this miſhapen trunks aſpiring head / ‘Be circled in a glorious Diadem / But then ’tis fixt on ſuch an heighth, O!

    1699 (date written), C[olley] Cibber, The Tragical History of King Richard III. As It Is Acted at the Theatre Royal., London: […] B. Lintott […] and A. Bettesworth […], published [1700], →OCLC, pages 7–8

    [H]e therefore hastened on, and conducted Carlstadt to the spot he had recently quitted, and discovered to him a rude mishapen entrance to a flight of steps, which appeared as conducting ones to some dwelling emboweled in the earth.

    1807, [Miss Guion], chapter II, in The Three Germans. Mysteries Exemplified in the Life of Holstein of Lutztein. A German Romance. […], volume I, London: […] J[ames] F[letcher] Hughes, […], →OCLC, pages 31–32

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

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