English

Alternative forms

• mis-signal

Verb

missignal ‎(third-person singular simple present missignals, present participle missignaling or missignalling, simple past and past participle missignaled or missignalled)

1. (transitive) To signal wrongly or in error
   • 2003, Patrick Dunleavy, Authoring a PhD:

     False start II does not actively mis-signal what the new chapter is about.

   • 2008, Katrina Karkazis, Fixing Sex: Intersex, Medical Authority, and Lived Experience:

     At birth genitals are thus viewed as symbolically and literally revealing the truth of gender. At no time are the connections between genitals and gender more evident than when the genitalia of an infant either do not signal or else missignal sex.

Noun

missignal ‎(plural missignals)

1. A bad, wrong, false, or incorrect signal
   • 1991, Steve H. Hanke, ‎Alan Arthur Walters, Capital Markets and Development:

     Is the signalling problem a reason not to pursue the policy, or is it a reason to deal with how to prevent the missignal by means of adequate disclosure?

   • 1994, Bill Reid, ‎Ronald Austin Smith, Big-time Football at Harvard, 1905: The Diary of Coach Bill Reid:

     There was a missignal on the goal line and Newhall having no one to pass the ball to stuck it under his arm and made a successful quarter back run for a touch down.