Misjudgment

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An error in interpreting a situation may lead to wrong conclusions and subsequent actions that are misguided
2. A failure to accurately assess a situation can result in incorrect beliefs and actions that are based on faulty reasoning
3. An erroneous evaluation of circumstances may cause one to draw false conclusions and take inappropriate steps based on those mistakes

Etymology: Misjudgment is a plain English compound: the prefix "mis-" joined to "judgment." The prefix comes from Old English "mis-", a word meaning wrong, amiss, or astray, which traces back through Proto-Germanic "missa-" to a Proto-Indo-European root for "to change" or "to exchange," the same sense that made "mis-" a marker of error. Its sense of faulty or wrong is the key to the whole word, since a misjudgment is a judgment that has gone astray. Judgment itself comes from the Old French "jugement," which was built on the Latin "judicium," meaning a decision or the act of judging. English joined the two parts into a single word, and the result describes not an unfortunate event but the act of reaching a wrong conclusion. Its meaning is quite close to the sense of its base: a flawed assessment that leads to flawed beliefs and choices.

Synonyms: error, mistake, miscalculation

Antonyms: correctness, accuracy