misspend

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verb

To spend poorly, incorrectly or unwisely.

“I misspent my youth making friends and meeting people. Wait a minute: that's the secret of my success!”

OriginMiddle English misspenden →
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Meanings

verbmisspend (third-person singular simple present misspends, present participle misspending, simple past and past participle misspent)

present singular third person misspends · participle present misspending · participle past misspent · past misspent

  1. To spend poorly, incorrectly or unwisely.

    I misspent my youth making friends and meeting people. Wait a minute: that's the secret of my success!

    1 more example

    Matters of a much more extraordinary kind are to be the subject of this history, or I should grossly mis-spend my time in writing so voluminous a work […]

    1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling

Origin

  1. Middle Englishmisspenden
  2. Englishmisspend

From Middle English misspenden, equivalent to mis- + spend.

More words from Middle English

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

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