mishandle
/mɪsˈhændəl/
mishandle verb: to manipulate something roughly, causing physical damage.
Verb
mishandle (third-person singular simple present mishandles, present participle mishandling, simple past and past participle mishandled)
- To manipulate something roughly, causing physical damage.
- If you mishandle a fragile package, the contents may break.
- The obvious advantages of this method of new motor vehicle delivery over long distances,, which the L.M.R. says dealers and ultimate customers are beginning to appreciate, are all-weather reliability, arrival in mint condition and with only a very small mileage "on the clock", and the assurance...1962 October, “Talking of Trains: L.M.R. car-carrying success”, in Modern Railways, page 224
- To deal with a situation incorrectly or ineffectively; to make a mistake in handling a situation.
- The prime minister was accused of mishandling the diplomatic crisis.
- Naturally, the wisdom of striking to remedy grievances was questioned; but there were few dissentients from the view that the Government and B.T.C. are mishandling the human relations involved.1962 November, “Talking of Trains: The one-day strike”, in Modern Railways, page 291
- Synonyms:
- mismanage
Noun
mishandle (countable and uncountable, plural mishandles)
mishandle meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Malayalam and Kannada
mishandle in Tamil
- தவறாய்க் கையாளு, சொதப்பு
mishandle in Urdu
- بدسلوکی کرنا
mishandle in Malayalam
- mismanage, bungle, fluff
- തെറ്റായി കെെകാര്യം ചെയ്യുക, കുഴപ്പിക്കുക, വഷളാക്കുക, അബദ്ധം കാട്ടുക, കെടുകാര്യം ചെയ്യുക, അസമർത്ഥമായി കെൊര്യം ചെയ്യുക
- ill-treat, bully, persecute
- വിരട്ടുക, പീഡിപ്പിക്കുക, മെക്കിട്ടുകയറുക, ഹീനമായി പെരുമാറുക, ഭേദ്യം ചെയ്യുക, മോശമായി പെരുമാറുക
- misuse, abuse, handle roughly
- ദുരുപയോഗം ചെയ്യുക, തെറ്റായരീതിയിൽ ഉപയോഗിക്കുക, ദുർവ്വിനിയോഗം ചെയ്യുക, തെറ്റായരീതിയിൽ കെെകാര്യം ചെയ്യുക, ക്രമരഹിമായി കെെകാര്യം ചെയ്യുക
mishandle in Kannada
- ಒರಟೊರಟಾಗಿ ವ್ಯವಹರಿಸು, ಕೆಟ್ಟದಾಗಿ ನಡೆಸಿಕೊ, ಕಾಟಕೊಡು, ಪೀಡಿಸು, ಅಸಮರ್ಪಕವಾಗಿ ನಡೆಸು, ಹಾಳುಮಾಡು
Examples of mishandle in a sentence
- It’s not just that it produces unhealthy food, mishandles waste and overuses antibiotics in ways that harm us all.2009 August 22, Nicholas Kristof, “Food for the Soul”, in The New York Times:
- Trump faces 31 counts of violating the Espionage Act, which makes it a crime to mishandle national security secrets.2023 July 18, Charlie Savage, “Trump Documents Hearing Could Set Off Lengthy Fight Over Classified Evidence”, in The New York Times:
Synonyms of mishandle
Forms of mishandle
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | mishandles |
| present participle | mishandling |
| past participle | mishandled |
| past | mishandled |
| Noun | |
| plural | mishandles |
Origin of mishandle
From Middle English mishandlen, equivalent to mis- + handle. Cognate with Saterland Frisian mishondelje, West Frisian mishandelje, Dutch mishandelen (“to mistreat”), German misshandeln (“to mistreat”).
Questions about mishandle
- What does mishandle mean?
- Mishandle means to manipulate something roughly, causing physical damage.
- What is mishandle in Tamil?
- Mishandle in Tamil is தவறாய்க் கையாளு, சொதப்பு. See Mishandle meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use mishandle in a sentence?
- It’s not just that it produces unhealthy food, mishandles waste and overuses antibiotics in ways that harm us all.
- What part of speech is mishandle?
- Mishandle can be a verb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce mishandle?
- Mishandle is pronounced /mɪsˈhændəl/.
- What is the past tense of mishandle?
- The past tense of mishandle is mishandled.
Words near mishandle in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: mishandle (page history and authors); mishandle (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); mishandle (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); mishandle (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); mishandle (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-mishandle.wav.
Cite this entry: “mishandle.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/mishandle. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.