MISPLACE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does misplace mean? 

• MISPLACE (verb)
  The verb MISPLACE has 2 senses:

1. place (something) where one cannot find it again

2. place or position wrongly; put in the wrong position

  Familiarity information: MISPLACE used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MISPLACE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they misplace    ... he / she / it misplaces   
Past simple: misplaced   
Past participle: misplaced   
-ing form: misplacing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Place (something) where one cannot find it again

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

mislay; misplace

Context example:

I misplaced my eyeglasses

Hypernyms (to "misplace" is one way to...):

lose (fail to get or obtain)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something PP

Sense 2

Meaning:

Place or position wrongly; put in the wrong position

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Context example:

misplaced modifiers

Hypernyms (to "misplace" is one way to...):

lay; place; pose; position; put; set (put into a certain place or abstract location)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something PP

Derivation:

misplacement (faulty position)

 Context examples 

I have seen Harrison called from his bunk to put properly away a misplaced paintbrush, and the two watches below haled from their tired sleep to accompany him and see him do it.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Remarkably, when the cells were stressed — by exposure to viral or bacterial components, or a toxic chemical such as hydrogen peroxide — up to 14% of the methionine was misplaced onto other tRNAs.

(Genes Can be Read in Different Ways, NIH, US)

This "misplaced" tissue can cause pain, infertility, and very heavy periods.

(Endometriosis, NIH)

You may also have misplaced something important because you were distracted.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

I am aware that there has been sometimes, in some points, a misplaced distinction; but I think too well of you, Fanny, to suppose you will ever harbour resentment on that account.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

If I may not be permitted to allude to the natural depravity of the human heart, at least I may—I must—be permitted, so far to refer to misplaced confidence.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

A misplaced shame.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

To his sombre and cynical spirit all popular applause was always abhorrent, and nothing amused him more at the end of a successful case than to hand over the actual exposure to some orthodox official, and to listen with a mocking smile to the general chorus of misplaced congratulation.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I found, in the course of the day, that this was the case: Miss Mills having been unhappy in a misplaced affection, and being understood to have retired from the world on her awful stock of experience, but still to take a calm interest in the unblighted hopes and loves of youth.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)