misplaced
/mɪsˈpleɪst
/adjective
1Incorrectly positioned: a million dollars had been lost because of a misplaced comma...
- Can we roll back the tide of misplaced apostrophes and commas?
- The game then degenerated into a real mishmash of misplaced passes and precious few chances.
- The players got tired and there were a few misplaced passes setting the opposition up.
1.1Not appropriate or correct in the circumstances: a telling sign of misplaced priorities...
- So it now falls upon me to correct the angry and misplaced insinuations in his letter, one by one.
- As a reasonable citizen, what really troubles the professor is that this priority to achieve gender equity in the ranks is an example of grossly misplaced priorities.
- We all want to join the political and economic A list but if what we give up on the way is the freedom to determine what sets us apart, then perhaps our priorities have been misplaced.
Synonyms
misguided, unwise, misconceived, ill-advised, ill-considered, ill-judged;
inappropriate, unsuitable, untoward, inapt
1.2(Of a feeling or emotion) directed unwisely or to an inappropriate object: he began to wonder if his sympathy was misplaced...
- The critical venom is almost enough to stir misplaced feelings of cultural loyalty and ties of kinship in even the hardest black heart.
- For the first few days I had those misplaced emotions of gratitude and pity.
- I found myself experiencing those same misplaced feelings of utter sophistication.
2 [attributive] Temporarily lost: her misplaced keys...
- Since we have several lab areas where we work, it's not unheard of to have to backtrack to recover a temporarily misplaced disk.
- Delayed shipments, misplaced orders and lost products were commonplace.
- A dog which was run over, a set of misplaced keys and a woman wanting a plumber were just a few of the incidents Bradford's emergency services dealt with this year.
Synonyms
lost, mislaid, missing, nowhere to be found