malappropriateadj.
/ˌmaləˈprəʊprɪət/, U.S. /ˈˌmæləˈproʊpriət/ Now rare.
Ill-suited, inappropriate.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > order > disorder > disharmony or incongruity > unsuitability or inappropriateness > [adjective]
unkinOE
un-i-feieOE
unbecomelyc1200
amissc1325
wrongousa1350
uncovenablec1374
unsitting1390
undue1398
ungainanda1400
unquemea1400
inconvenientc1400
unlikelyc1405
disconvenienta1425
impertinenta1425
discovenablec1436
unmeetc1440
wrongc1440
unjustc1443
unbehovablec1450
inconvenientc1460
uncordial1488
unmeetly1534
unapt1539
unfit1548
incommodious1553
ungreeing1560
impertinent1565
stravagant1565
unproper1566
improper1570
unhovable1570
unapt1579
unbeseeming1583
unsuitablea1586
unappliable1588
unapt1588
unlikely1590
unfittinga1592
unfitted1592
unsuiting1596
unbefitting1598
unsorted1598
unsuited1598
contrary1600
impair1609
unfitty1613
incompetible1621
incongruous1623
infita1626
uncompetiblea1628
inaccommodatea1657
inapplicable1656
inconcinnate1657
inconcinnous1662
inept1675
unaccommodatea1676
incommode1678
indecorous1681
untoward1682
unapplicable1690
insuitable1692
unsuit1704
malapropos1709
inapt1744
out of place1748
uncongenial1788
unfit-like1796
ungain-like1796
inappropriate1804
unadapted1805
dissuitable1807
dissuited1819
ineligible1828
infelicitous1835
unapropos1840
butt-ended1850
malappropriate1851
ungenial1871
misappropriate1878
unbecoming1893
unappropriate1898
unadjusted1899
offside1910
off-key1943
improbable1958
1851 T. De Quincey Ld. Carlisle on Pope in Tait's Edinb. Mag. Apr. 233/1 If a prize had been offered for a bad and malappropriate subject, none worse could have been suggested.
1883 St. James's Gaz. 28 Apr. 4 Much eloquent (if rather malappropriate) language about religious liberty.
1937 W. F. Paris French Arts & Lett. 180 Lest the reader be left with..a feeling of malappropriate treatment,..we mention an outer door in which the artist's mastery of the new technique [etc.].
1998 D. Glancy Cold-&-hunger Dance 102 I could..make my attack on syntax. Spell in my own way. Use malappropriate words.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2000; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
malappropriatev.
/ˌmaləˈprəʊprɪeɪt/, U.S. /ˈˌmæləˈproʊpriˌeɪt/ rare.
transitive. To misapply (something).
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > disadvantage > uselessness > misuse > [verb (transitive)] > misapply
misapply1571
malappropriate1847
1847 E. Brontë Wuthering Heights II. xix. 344 She thrust the hearth-brush into the grates in mistake for the poker, and mal-appropriated several other articles of her craft.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2000; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1851v.1847