as in to misuse
to put to a bad or improper use you've misapplied the theorem to certain problems that require a different formula kids who misapply their boundless energy and get into trouble

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Recent Examples of misapply Our biased admiration for good fathers is misapplied to a species, such as the bald eagle, in which biparental care is the rule. Time, 17 June 2023 First, if a bull market means to you that stocks are trending unequivocally upward, then, no, the bull market label is being misapplied right now. Jeff Sommer, New York Times, 16 June 2023 Democrats in Tallahassee say the program isn’t just bad policy, it was misapplied to move migrants from Texas. Todd J. Gillman, Dallas News, 7 June 2023

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“Misapply.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/misapply. Accessed 26 Mar. 2025.

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