misplace

Verb

misplace (third-person singular simple present misplaces, present participle misplacing, simple past and past participle misplaced)

1. (transitive) To put something somewhere and then forget its location; to mislay.
   • I might have misplaced my umbrella; do you know where it is?
   • At least once a week a patient will come into Dr. Thomas Loepfe’s busy geriatric clinic in Lacrosse, Wisconsin, with a worry. She will tell him she’s been misplacing her glasses lately, or he’ll say he’s concerned about losing the car keys.2014 September 24, Jen Christensen, “Early memory lapses may be sign of dementia”, in CNN
2. (figuratively) To apply one's talents inappropriately.
   • Bart Groothuijze, who runs the Castodian foundation promoting safer motorbiking, blames a misplaced sense of freedom and vanity.2024 June 16, Senay Boztas, “‘The brain is very vulnerable’: Dutch cyclists urged to wear helmets as road deaths rise”, in The Guardian
3. To put something in the wrong location.
   • Every word in English of more than one Syllable has a fixed accent established by the custom of the language, to misplace which is as offensive to the propriety of speech, as to missound the vowel.1808, R.s. Skillern, A New System of English Grammar, page 128