miswork

present singular third person misworks · participle present misworking · participle past misworked · past misworked · archaic participle past rare miswrought · archaic past rare miswrought

1. ambitransitiveTo work (something) incorrectly.

   It is possible to miswork a piece of steel so as to have a cavity in the center.

   1832, Records and Briefs of the United States Supreme Court, page 44

   5 more examples

   If any person who, with the intent to defraud or appropriate to his own use the horse, mule, jack, jenny, ox, cow, calf, sheep, hog, or other stock of another, shall willfully miswork or misbrand any stock not his own, or kill any stock running at large, whether branded, marked, or not, shall, on conviction thereof, be deemed guilty of felony, and shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for a term not less than six months nor more than five years.

   1885, The General Statutes of the State of Nevada

   Yes, it is foolish indeed when people who miswork the land, acting contrary to the laws of nature, complain afterwards that it is depleted and invent the law of diminishing returns,

   1957, Gennadiĭ Semenovich Fish, The Land and the Corn: Popular Science Essays, page 66

   I find it absurd that because we miswork one case, we can lose what amounts to either $7 or $14 million in 1 fiscal year.

   1984, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Ways and Means. Subcommittee on Public Assistance and Unemployment Compensation, Impact of Federal Budget Cuts on Emergency Food and Shelter Needs.

   One or another would come late, miswork the tape machine, help families make appointment times when they could not be taped, be unable to locate newly assigned families for a week or two, etc.

   2013, Kalman Flomenhaft, The Challenge of Family Therapy, page 185

   Hierarchies and a government that caters to them have given those who manage businesses every right to mismanage, and employees little right to miswork.

   2020, Norman Jones, Performance Management in the 21st Century

plural misworks

1. countableuncountableA failure to operate properly; malfunction.

   Reduction of the reject rate (reduction of miswork)

   2020, Yoji Akao, Hoshin Kanri: Policy Deployment for Successful TQM, page 31

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   No doubt, if a member of every family knew how to mesmerize, and would apply the process when the first symptom of miswork in the organism appeared, physicians should have very little to do .

   1855, William Neilson, Mesmerism in Its Relation to Health and Disease, page 111

   The larger this allowance, the less the risk of conveyor shut-down due to miswork is, and the higher the possibility of increased production by increasing the conveyer speed became.

   1969, Bertil S. M. Granborg, Proceedings: Western Periodicals Company, page 119

   Technological disasters involve the misworks of man: shipwrecks, plane crashes, building collapses, toxic spills, nuclear reactor leaks.

   2008, Laurence Miller, Counseling Crime Victims, page 292

2. countableuncountableWork that is inappropriate or badly done.

   Miswork has to be avoided at all costs, as it does not contribute to the evolution of the soul.

   1970, Swami Panrimalai, The Holy Panchakshara and Other Writings of Sri-La-Sri Panrimalai Swamigal, page 86

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   So far those who have come to me with that diagnosis have all been instances of miswork, and have mainly needed for their cure brain exercise of a more general kind.

   1988, Adolphus Edward Bridger, An Unknown Monograph on Depression

   Sinpham onaba ( wrong choice of profession ) is a miswork representing the kind of work which is wrongly pursued.

   1988, Moirangthem Kirti Singh, Religion and Culture of Manipur, page 69