amiss
amiss Lexical Profile
amiss Game Scores & Validity
• adjective
Not quite right; inappropriate, faulty, or out of place.
"The auditor noticed immediately that something was amiss in the quarterly financial records."
• adverb
In a mistaken, improper, or unfavorable way (frequently used in the phrase 'take something amiss' to mean becoming offended).
"Please do not take my constructive feedback amiss, as I only want to help improve the manuscript."
Word Nuance & Usage
As an adjective, 'amiss' is used exclusively in the predicate position (after a linking verb or directly following an indefinite pronoun, as in 'something is amiss' or 'something amiss'), never directly before a noun.
• Rhymes for amiss
Word Origin & Etymology
Originating in Middle English, 'amiss' was formed from the Old Norse phrase á mis, meaning 'so as to miss' or 'astray', combining the preposition á ('on' or 'in') with miss ('a loss or failure').