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Synonyms

mismatch

American  
[mis-mach, mis-mach] / mɪsˈmætʃ, ˈmɪsˌmætʃ /

verb (used with object)

  1. to match badly or unsuitably.

noun

  1. a bad or unsatisfactory match.

mismatch British  
/ ˌmɪsˈmætʃ /

verb

  1. to match badly, esp in marriage

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

noun

  1. a bad or inappropriate match

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of mismatch

First recorded in 1590–1600; mis- 1 + match 2

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

This mismatch is known as the Hubble tension, and it stands as one of the most important unresolved problems in modern cosmology.

From Science Daily

But no matter the location, this will be a mammoth mismatch.

From BBC

To account for the mismatch, researchers at MIT and UC Berkeley proposed that Saturn once had an additional moon.

From Science Daily

Boxing has a long history of carefully constructed mismatches.

From BBC

This has created a mismatch between what the market is producing and where the demand lies - among older listeners with greater spending power in an ageing society.

From BBC

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.