misbegotten

adjective

mis·be·got·ten ˌmis-bi-ˈgä-tᵊn

Synonyms of misbegotten next

dated : unlawfully conceived : born to parents not married to each other

a misbegotten child

: having a disreputable or improper origin : ill-conceived

antiquated and misbegotten tax laws—

R. M. Blough

: contemptible

a misbegotten scoundrel

: deformed

The road brought you to a desert place among ruins, where was a door in a hillside, and hard by the door a misbegotten pine.—

Robert Louis Stevenson

Did you know?

In the beginning, there was begietan, and begietan begot beyeten; then in the days of Middle English beyeten begot begeten. All of the Old English and Middle English ancestors above basically meant the same thing as the modern beget—that is, "to father" or "to produce as an effect or outgrowth." That linguistic line, combined with the prefix mis- (meaning "wrongly" or "badly"), brought forth misbegotten. While the word has carried several meanings over the centuries, including "contemptible" (as in "a misbegotten scoundrel"), today it most often describes things—such as beliefs, projects, or adventures—that are poorly planned or thought out.

Examples of misbegotten in a Sentence

a misbegotten child who never knew his father

Recent Examples on the Web

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Studios bet on theaters After the misbegotten straight-to-streaming experiments of the pandemic era, studios have for the most part bought into the viability of movie theaters again. —

Ryan Faughnder, Los Angeles Times, 17 Dec. 2024 Over 2,500 film industry figures in South Korea have signed their names to a petition calling for the impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol after his misbegotten declaration of martial law on Tuesday. —

Patrick Brzeski, The Hollywood Reporter, 7 Dec. 2024 Claude has summoned Taverner into his office for the sort of misbegotten PowerPoint presentation that’s going to bore her to tears. —

Scott Tobias, Vulture, 2 Oct. 2024 Ranking Coppola’s 23 features — his 1962 soft-core Tonight for Sure is not included, nor is his misbegotten New York Stories short feature or the Disney attraction Captain EO — was a difficult proposition. —

Scott Tobias, Vulture, 27 Sep. 2024 See all Example Sentences for misbegotten