Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Disorder or lawless confusion.
  • noun Inept or unwise rule; misgovernment.
  • transitive verb To rule ineptly, unjustly, or unwisely; misgovern.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Bad rule; misgovernment; wrongful exercise of power or authority.
  • noun Absence of control or restraint; insubordination; disorder.
  • To rule badly; govern unwisely or oppressively.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • verb To rule badly; to misgovern.
  • noun The act, or the result, of misruling.
  • noun Disorder; confusion; tumult from insubordination.
  • noun See under Abbot, and Lord.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb law Of a trial judge, to make a bad decision in court.
  • verb To be inefficient in government management.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun government that is inefficient or dishonest

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From mis- +‎ rule.

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Examples

  • Your first two years may serve as a blueprint for how David Cameron acts after the Conservatives win the next general election and the true scale of Labour misrule is exposed.

    http://www.london.gov.uk/ and some advice for Boris Not a sheep 2008

  • Your first two years may serve as a blueprint for how David Cameron acts after the Conservatives win the next general election and the true scale of Labour misrule is exposed.

    Archive 2008-05-01 Not a sheep 2008

  • He shall show that Christ's errand into the world was to set things to right in it, and to introduce times of reformation and regeneration; and he proves it by this, that the prince of this world, the great master of misrule, is judged and expelled.

    Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume V (Matthew to John) 1721

  • He is set to inherit, come January 2009, the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression of the 1920s; the complete and bloody mess Bush and his cronies have made of Iraq, and Afghanistan; a health service which, in the world's biggest democracy, is an absolute disgrace of inequality and poor or non-existent provision; and, a view of the US internationally which could not be more damning or dire and yet, until now, under Dubya's two-term misrule, was entirely justified on grounds of the outgoing administration's inexhaustible arrogance and insane 'go it alone and to hell with the rest of you' policies.

    British Blogs 2008

  • He is set to inherit, come January 2009, the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression of the 1920s; the complete and bloody mess Bush and his cronies have made of Iraq, and Afghanistan; a health service which, in the world's biggest democracy, is an absolute disgrace of inequality and poor or non-existent provision; and, a view of the US internationally which could not be more damning or dire and yet, until now, under Dubya's two-term misrule, was entirely justified on grounds of the outgoing administration's inexhaustible arrogance and insane 'go it alone and to hell with the rest of you' policies.

    British Blogs 2008

  • If the Conservative policy is to strengthen the Union it would seem the only way to go - they can hardly start saying that Labour misrule was a good thing and the Conservatives will do it more and better.

    One Large Donor Please..... Newmania 2007

  • One of the prominent characteristics of winter celebrations was the idea of misrule, in which social roles were temporarily reversed.

    Happy Christmakwanzakah A. Bennett 2007

  • Casey told reporters Tuesday that Mugabe's "misrule" has turned

    ANC Daily News Briefing 2008

  • If, after ten years of Labour "misrule", the result is that "we're living in a new world of freedom … etc.", what do we need the Conservatives for?

    Archive 2007-10-01 Richard 2007

  • If, after ten years of Labour "misrule", the result is that "we're living in a new world of freedom … etc.", what do we need the Conservatives for?

    Planet, which, on…? Richard 2007

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