Word of the Day

: September 27, 2021

misbegotten

adjective miss-bih-GAH-tun

What It Means

Misbegotten means "ill-conceived." It can also mean "having an improper origin."

// The celebrity's misbegotten tweet went viral. 

// The university's Board of Trustees rejected the misbegotten plan for building a new football stadium.

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misbegotten in Context

"… one of those misbegotten oddities that cheats you out of the film you imagine you'll be getting from its opening 10 minutes...." — Robbie Collin, The Daily Telegraph (London), 6 Aug. 2021

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 with the prefix mis- (meaning "wrongly" or "badly") brought forth misbegotten.