Misdeliver

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To send or distribute something to an incorrect address or recipient; to fail in delivering a package, message, or item to its intended destination; to mistakenly transfer or forward an object or communication to the wrong party
2. To incorrectly convey or transport an item or letter to a place or person not intended by the sender; to improperly hand over or dispatch materials resulting in a delivery error; to misroute or misdirect shipments causing delivery failure
3. To erroneously carry out the dispatch of mail or goods so they reach an unintended recipient; to misallocate or misplace items during delivery procedures; to fail in proper logistical completion by sending something to a wrong location or individual

Etymology: "Misdeliver" is a plain compound: the prefix "mis-", meaning "wrongly" or "badly", attached to "deliver". The prefix comes from Old English and is used productively to form verbs like "misjudge" and "mislead," so "misdeliver" follows a pattern English speakers have used for centuries. The base word "deliver" traces back through Old French "delivrer" to Latin "liberare," meaning "to set free," which is why its older senses involve release and rescue before it came to mean handing something over. Adding "mis-" simply reverses the expected outcome: to misdeliver is to hand something over to the wrong recipient, or to carry out the act of delivering incorrectly.

Synonyms: misroute, misdispatch, misdirect, missend, mismail

Antonyms: deliver, dispatch, send, route, forward