misgauged

Incorrectly sized up

Misgauged means incorrectly estimated or assessed.

To misgauge is to judge something wrongly—a distance, a reaction, a situation: She misgauged the depth of the water and jumped in too shallow.

The word appears most often when someone has miscalculated how others will respond: He badly misgauged the public mood.

measurement

miscounted

Tallied incorrectly

miscalibratedImproperly adjusted for accuracy
misalignedNot properly positioned
imprecisionLack of exactness

inexactness · deviation · variance · skew · off-target · inaccurate · distorted · unreliable

misjudgment

misjudged

Assessed incorrectly

misestimatedAssessed incorrectly
misreadInterpret text incorrectly
misinterpretedUnderstood incorrectly

misconstrued · misapprehended · misreckoned · underestimated · overestimated · mispriced · mistimed · misvalued · mispredicted · misassessed

error

blunder

Foolish, costly mistake

mistakeWrong action or decision
miscueFailed stroke
slipMinor error or misstep

foul-up · snafu · botched · bungled · flawed · erroneous · incorrect · wrong · faulty · off-base

perception

misperceived

Incorrectly understood or sensed

misunderstoodIncorrectly comprehended
misconceivedPoorly thought through
misapprehensionIncorrect belief or understanding

misjudgment · bias · assumption · premature · hasty · ill-informed · shortsighted · narrow · subjective · skewed

Opposites

accuracy of measurement or assessment

misgaugedspot-on

Precisely correct, informally

true · exact · on target · dead-on

accuracy of measurement/assessment

misgaugednailed

Secured with fasteners

Family

misgauge, misgauges, misgauging

Familiarity: Top 500,000
Profile: Used worldwide · Timeless · Everyday, not technical · Rated G