MISBEHAVE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does misbehave mean? 

• MISBEHAVE (verb)
  The verb MISBEHAVE has 1 sense:

1. behave badly

  Familiarity information: MISBEHAVE used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MISBEHAVE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they misbehave    ... he / she / it misbehaves   
Past simple: misbehaved   
Past participle: misbehaved   
-ing form: misbehaving   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Behave badly

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

misbehave; misconduct; misdemean

Context example:

The children misbehaved all morning

Hypernyms (to "misbehave" is one way to...):

act; move (perform an action, or work out or perform (an action))

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "misbehave"):

fall from grace (revert back to bad behavior after a period of good behavior)

act up; carry on (misbehave badly; act in a silly or improper way)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s somebody

Antonym:

behave (behave well or properly)

Derivation:

misbehavior (improper or wicked or immoral behavior)

 Context examples 

All kids misbehave some times.

(Child Behavior Disorders, NIH)

He wishes his boys to be active and hardy; and if they misbehave, can give them a sharp word now and then; but he is an affectionate father—certainly Mr. John Knightley is an affectionate father.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Well, I don’t know now whether it was pure devilry on the part of this woman, or whether she thought that she could turn me against my wife by encouraging her to misbehave.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Indiaman in distress; and you shall go there another day, and find them deep in the evidence, pro and con, respecting a clergyman who has misbehaved himself; and you shall find the judge in the nautical case, the advocate in the clergyman's case, or contrariwise.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)