mishyphenate

M3I1S1H4Y4P3H4E1N1A1T1E1

verb

To hyphenate a word at an inappropriate point, especially one that is not between two syllables.

Scrabble 25
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Meanings

verbmishyphenate (third-person singular simple present mishyphenates, present participle mishyphenating, simple past and past participle mishyphenated)

present singular third person mishyphenates · participle present mishyphenating · participle past mishyphenated · past mishyphenated

  1. To hyphenate a word at an inappropriate point, especially one that is not between two syllables.

    It did not mishyphenate any words, but it missed more hyphenation opportunities than any other program (20).

    1990 January 1, “Product Comparison”, in InfoWorld, volume 12, number 1, page 51
    2 more examples

    Good hyphenators strongly prefer Type II errors over Type I; they find fewer possibilities, but they rarely mishyphenate a word.

    1988, Richard Rubinstein, Digital Typography, page 187

    The initial story, “ In the presence of greatness: the Bukowski Barfly narrative," describes an encounter with “Hank” at the opening of Bukowski's movie, Barfly (we have this lamentable tendency to mishyphenate the word as “Barf - ly") .

    1995, Sipapu - Volumes 25-26, page 14

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
mishyphen

Origin

From mis- + hyphenate.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

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