Misalign

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To arrange elements in a manner that causes improper positioning
2. To place or set something so that it is not properly lined up with other parts
3. To cause an object or components to be off-center or improperly oriented relative to each other

Etymology: The most useful fact about "misalign" is that its two halves come from very different places. "Align" entered English from French, where "aligner" meant to put in a straight line, and it ultimately traces to the Latin "linea" for a line or thread. The prefix "mis-" is a native English element, descended from Old English "mis-", which carried the sense of wrong, faulty or amiss. Its ancestors reach back through Proto-Germanic to a shared Indo-European root, but the word itself was simply built in English by attaching that old prefix to the borrowed verb. Put together, the sense is literal: to fail to bring things into line, so that something sits a little off its proper alignment. Because "mis-" is productive, English speakers could add it to almost any verb, which is why "misalign" reads as transparently as "misspell" or "mislead".

Synonyms: misplace, dislocate, shift

Antonyms: align, position