Meanings
plural mispromotions
- countableuncountableThe act of mispromoting; the advertisement of something as having properties it does not have.
Mr. Speaker, the legal theory of Brown against Topeka rejecting a denial of freedom of choice because of race has suffered mispromotion to the point that today “freedom of choice" is again illegal.
1969 March 3, John R. Rarick, Congressional Record, page 49982 more examples
The rapid decrease in fat trim of retail beef cuts in the U.S. from 1986 (13mm) to 1988 (< 3mm) (Cross et al 1988 ) is surely an indication that institutionalised "imposition" of an historic quality grading system can result in a mispromotion of product with costs of heroic proportions.
1995, Proceedings: Linking science and technology to societal benefits, page 205“There is a strong incentive for employees to report mispromotion or other acts that might be regarded as a false claim – whistleblowers get 15 to 30 percent of what the government collects,” he points out.
2006 October 17, O Avitzur, T Valeo, “What Physicians Can Say About Off-Label Therapies—Lawsuits Could Set New Precedents”, in Neurology Today - countableuncountableThe act of promoting someone to a position for which they are not qualified.
This mispromotion phenomenon has become popularly known as the Peter Principle (12).
1978, Thomas J. Atchison, Winston W. Hill, Management Today: Managing Work in Organizations, page 1462 more examples
For, still today, I continue to be amazed at how many senior executives fail fully to realize the potentially ruinous cost of a mis-hire or mispromotion.
1991, John Wareham, The Anatomy of a Great Executive, page 5Every manager sitting with HR to analyze the costs of every mishire, by reviewing the total hiring file on the mis-hire or mispromotion, sees that cutting corners on Topgrading methods is foolish because it is so costly.
2012, Bradford D. Smart, Topgrading - countableuncountableA person who has been mispromoted.
The other three-fourths (the B- and C-Players) become mishires and mispromotions.
2009, Chris Lauer, The Management Gurus
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*mey-?
- Proto-Indo-European*meyth₂-
- Proto-Germanic*missaz
- Proto-Germanic*missa-
- Proto-West Germanic*missa-
- Old Englishmis-
- Middle Englishmys-
- Englishmis-
- Proto-Indo-European*per-der.?
- Proto-Indo-European*pér
- Proto-Indo-European*pró
- Proto-Indo-European*pro-
- Proto-Italic*pro-
- Latinprō-
- Proto-Indo-European*m(y)ewh₁-
- Proto-Indo-European*m(y)owh₁éyeti
- Proto-Italic*moweō
- Latinmoveō
- Latinprōmoveō
- Late Latinprōmotiō
- Old Frenchpromocion
- Englishpromotion
- Englishmispromotion
Cite this entry
mispromotion. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mispromotion
“mispromotion.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mispromotion. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “mispromotion,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mispromotion.
Source: mispromotion on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.