mismatch

1 of 2

noun

mis·​match ˈmis-ˌmach 

plural mismatches

: a faulty or unsuitable match

New England plays St. Louis in Super Bowl XXXVI this evening, and on the face of it, this game is a mismatch, a blowout waiting to happen.

—William C. Rhoden

She is blood type O, and the donor heart and lungs she received in the first operation were blood type A. That mismatch triggered rejection by her immune system.

—Dan Vergano

mismatch

2 of 2

verb

mis·​match ˌmis-ˈmach 

mismatched; mismatching

transitive verb

: to match (two people or things) wrongly or unsuitably

Let's say that you are afraid of boring your audience. One cause is mismatching the audience's need and the level of detail you provide.

—Liz Reyer

Examples of mismatch in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

For instance, Anthem partnered with Google Cloud to build AI models that detect billing irregularities and identity mismatches. —Akhilesh Sharma, Forbes.com, 9 May 2025

The result is a housing mismatch in which older people live in big houses with empty bedrooms while single adults and families with few children are looking for smaller, more affordable places. —Conor Dougherty, New York Times, 4 May 2025

Verb

Customers expect personalization, but excessive retargeting or mismatched messaging can erode trust. —Expert Panel®, Forbes.com, 6 May 2025

The immediate incentive and the down-the-course payoff are often mismatched, and legacies are not launched in short order. —Philip Elliott, Time, 5 May 2025

Word History

First Known Use

Noun

1606, in the meaning defined above

Verb

1582, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for mismatch

• attach
• bycatch
• despatch
• detach
• dispatch
• nuthatch
• potlatch
• toothache
• bache
• batch
• brach
• catch

Kids Definition

mismatch

verb

mis·​match

(ˈ)mis-ˈmach

: to match unsuitably or badly

mismatch noun