misnegotiate

English

Etymology

mis- +‎ negotiate

Verb

misnegotiate (third-person singular simple present misnegotiates, present participle misnegotiating, simple past and past participle misnegotiated)

1. To make a mistake when trying to make one's way over (difficult terrain); to misstep or stumble when trying to avoid (obstacles).
   • 2004, Will Johnson, The Sailfish and the Sacred Mountain, page 124:

     If they missed seeing one, or if they misnegotiated their path around another, we would be bounced roughly into the air.

   • 2005, Terry Reed, Indy: The Race and Ritual of the Indianapolis 500:

     Back in 1913 for instance, a driver named Jack Tower misnegotiated the southwest, and overturned in the south chute after exiting the turn.

   • 2005, Brandon Bennett, Moon in Gemini, page 79:

     She risked looking back just as she reached the porch, and she tripped and fell, not because she had misnegotiated her footing, but because she was shocked at what Shawn was doing.

   • 2005, Johney Larned, Though Silent They Speak: The Larned Family History, page 258:

     While returning home from Haskell, John drove upon his friend, Wilda Medford, who had misnegotiated Red Hill and his car had overturned.

   • 2017, Sheelagh Kelly, A Different Kind of Love:

     Mims giggled as, upon their arrival home, her high heels misnegotiated the threshold and she tripped.

2. To cope with or handle badly.
   • 2012, Elena M. Past, Methods of Murder:

     Although the protagonists of his films often misnegotiate risk, putting themselves recklessly in the path of psychotic killers, Argento navigates the professionally dangerous waters of genre cinema with elegance and intelligence.

   • 2017, Ken Wilber, The Religion of Tomorrow, page 414:

     Aspects of the gross or gross-reflecting state itself become compromised, misnegotiated, misnavigated, and misdigested, hobbling the state in various ways.

   • 2017, Andrea Fanta, Alejandro Herrero-Olaizola, Chloe Rutter-Jensen, Territories of Conflict, page 196:

     Thus, as a snapshot of a cultural moment, the controversy resulting from Ciegossordomudos's videos figures as a lesson in national identity and on how cultural codes are misnegotiated in contemporary Colombian society.

   • 2021, John R. Shook, Sami Paavola, Abduction in Cognition and Action, page 143:

     But his decision misnegotiates the Peircian action-step.

3. To argue or represent one's position badly when coming to an agreement.
   • 1980, Marketing & Media Decisions - Volume 15, Issues 1-6, page 120:

     He feels straight fees can be so seriously misnegotiated that profitability does not necessarily follow.

   • 1999, Sol Stein, Bankruptcy: A Feast for Lawyers, page 241:

     And this misnegotiated agreement contained what in my view were greatly inflated claims by BookCrafters.

   • 2002, Alex Epstein, Crafty Screenwriting: Writing Movies That Get Made, page 236:

     It's worth it, because your agent can easily get you more than 10 percent more than you would have gotten yourself, and you won't have a nagging feeling that you misnegotiated your deal.