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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
miscalculate
verb
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ I think we miscalculated how people would react to the scene.
▪ It is estimated that the IRS miscalculates interest charges 25% of the time.
▪ Sorry we're late -- we miscalculated how long it would take to get here.
▪ The city miscalculated the cost of earthquake repairs for the Bay Bridge.
▪ We have too many chairs. I must have miscalculated.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ But they miscalculated by targeting popular entitlement programs.
▪ He miscalculated again in thinking that the majority of officers would support his cause.
▪ Many tournament organisers miscalculate entry levels with the result that adjacent areas are crowded together and the competitors' safety is imperilled.
▪ Ohka 33 would have had the endurance to permit a second or third attempt should the first death-dive have been miscalculated.
▪ The answer from Realists is that the leaders had either misperceived the situation or miscalculated what to do in it.
▪ Unfortunately, the difficulty of mustering the parade had been badly miscalculated and it was behind schedule.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Miscalculate

Miscalculate \Mis*cal"cu*late\, v. t. & i.

  1. To calculate erroneously.

  2. To judge wrongly, especially about the effects of action or the likely course of events.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
miscalculate

1705; from mis- (1) + calculate. Related: Miscalculated; miscalculating.

Wiktionary
miscalculate

vb. 1 To incorrectly calculate; to make a gross error in judgement. 2 To make a gross error in judgement.

WordNet
miscalculate
  1. v. judge incorrectly; "I had misestimated his determination" [syn: misestimate]

  2. calculate incorrectly; "I miscalculated the number of guests at the wedding" [syn: misestimate]

Usage examples of "miscalculate".

If anything, he told himself, the Flenser Frag was in greater danger because of it: in trying to counter the fear, Steel might just miscalculate, and act more violently than was appropriate.

But he still miscalculates how far he can push Washington: he clearly did not expect an operation as large as Desert Fox in 1998, as demonstrated by his overreaction to the air strikes.

Saddam Hussein had badly miscalculated his chances of success because his key assumptions about a war with the U.

THE YEAR OF MISSED OPPORTUNITIES During the fall of 1990, Saddam Hussein had badly miscalculated his chances of success because his key assumptions about a war with the U.

The Master had miscalculated in thinking they could dominate the other three.

If he had miscalculated about this man in front of him, he would have been dead by now, and buried, and probably beyond identification if ever they recovered what was left of him.

For a terrible moment Elenora thought she had miscalculated badly and had initiated a complete disaster.

Hassan would, unquestionably be just as dangerous, violent, and miscalculating as Saddam.

In her sixth pregnancy she had miscalculated her time, and, in consequence, her uterus ruptured in an unexpected parturition, but she recovered and had several subsequent pregnancies.

Mac Stoker had called that last and miscalculated volley of cannonfire a lucky shot and meant just the opposite: the French were better marksmen than they meant to be, and had destroyed what they meant to steal.

I thought at the time the pilot miscalculated his rate of rise or something, or the orbitals were twitchy from the fireworks.

And Verey understood his desperation, but he thought Henry had miscalculated.

He doubles back to her on repeated, suck-up visits, cementing their wary truce with miscalculated small gifts: dried dough he swears will come back to life if soaked, half of a sundered walkie-talkie set, worthless books washed up in the tidal pools of trade, tides only she would read.

Train after train, each with its full complement of passengers, flashed forth across that summer sky, till the people in the Observatories must have thought they had miscalculated strangely and the Earth was passing amid the showering Leonids before her appointed time.

If anything, he told himself, the Flenser Frag was in greater danger because of it: in trying to counter the fear, Steel might just miscalculate, and act more violently than was appropriate.