Meanings
present singular third person misplaces · participle present misplacing · participle past misplaced · past misplaced
- transitiveTo put something somewhere and then forget its location; to mislay.
I might have misplaced my umbrella; do you know where it is?
3 more examples
At least once a week a patient will come into Dr. Thomas Loepfe’s busy geriatric clinic in Lacrosse, Wisconsin, with a worry. She will tell him she’s been misplacing her glasses lately, or he’ll say he’s concerned about losing the car keys.
2014 September 24, Jen Christensen, “Early memory lapses may be sign of dementia”, in CNNShe misplaces her things regularly (for example her phone, keys or bank card).
2017 November 27, Meadow Schroeder, “Signs of ADHD can be different in girls”, in CNNI misplace my keys or wallet on a daily basis. Sometimes multiple times a day.
2019 November 25, Jason Cipriani, “Tile’s Slim and Sticker trackers are affordable and provide peace of mind”, in CNN - figurativelyTo apply one's talents inappropriately.
Bart Groothuijze, who runs the Castodian foundation promoting safer motorbiking, blames a misplaced sense of freedom and vanity.
2024 June 16, Senay Boztas, “‘The brain is very vulnerable’: Dutch cyclists urged to wear helmets as road deaths rise”, in The Guardian - To put something in the wrong location.
Every word in English of more than one Syllable has a fixed accent established by the custom of the language, to misplace which is as offensive to the propriety of speech, as to missound the vowel.
1808, R.s. Skillern, A New System of English Grammar, page 128
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*mey-?
- Proto-Indo-European*meyth₂-
- Proto-Germanic*missaz
- Proto-Germanic*missa-
- Proto-West Germanic*missa-
- Old Englishmis-
- Middle Englishmys-
- Englishmis-
- Englishplace
- Englishmisplace
Translations
Bulgarian забутвам
- забутвам (zabutvam)to put something somewhere and then forget its location
Catalan perdre
- perdreto put something somewhere and then forget its location
Chinese Mandarin 擱忘 /搁忘, 誤放 /误放
- 擱忘 /搁忘 (gēwàng)to put something somewhere and then forget its location
- 誤放 /误放 (wùfàng)to put something somewhere and then forget its location
Czech založit, zašantročit
- založitto put something somewhere and then forget its location
- zašantročitto put something somewhere and then forget its location
Dutch misleggen
- misleggento put something somewhere and then forget its location
Finnish kadottaa, hukata
- kadottaato put something somewhere and then forget its location
- hukatato put something somewhere and then forget its location
French égarer
- égarerto put something somewhere and then forget its location
German verlegen
- verlegento put something somewhere and then forget its location
Greek παραπετώ
- παραπετώ (parapetó)to put something somewhere and then forget its location
Hungarian elkever, elhány
- elkeverto put something somewhere and then forget its location
- elhányto put something somewhere and then forget its location
- elkeveredik nálato put something somewhere and then forget its location
- elhagyto put something somewhere and then forget its location
- elveszítto put something somewhere and then forget its location
- elszórto put something somewhere and then forget its location
Italian smarrire
- smarrireto put something somewhere and then forget its location
Japanese 置き忘れる
- 置き忘れる (okiwasureru)to put something somewhere and then forget its location
Latin āmittō
- āmittōto put something somewhere and then forget its location
Norwegian forlegge, misforstå
- forleggeto put something somewhere and then forget its location
- misforståto apply one's talents inappropriately
Polish zgubić, zagubić
- zgubićto put something somewhere and then forget its location
- zagubićto put something somewhere and then forget its location
- zapodziaćto put something somewhere and then forget its location
Portuguese perder
- perderto put something somewhere and then forget its location
Russian заложи́ть, затеря́ть
- заложи́ть (založítʹ)to put something somewhere and then forget its location
- затеря́ть (zaterjátʹ)to put something somewhere and then forget its location
- засу́нуть (zasúnutʹ)to put something somewhere and then forget its location
Spanish extraviar, traspapelar
- extraviarto put something somewhere and then forget its location
- traspapelarto put something somewhere and then forget its location
- asignar malamenteto apply one's talents inappropriately
Swedish förlägga
- förläggato put something somewhere and then forget its location
Urdu گمانا, گَن٘وانا
- گمانا (gumānā)to put something somewhere and then forget its location
- گَن٘وانا (ganvānā)to put something somewhere and then forget its location
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with misplace
Cite this entry
misplace. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/misplace
“misplace.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/misplace. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “misplace,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/misplace.
Source: misplace on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.