misalliance

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   an unsuitable or ill-judged partnership or alliance

   The merger proved a costly misalliance for both companies.

2. 2
   noun

   a marriage considered unsuitable, especially because of differences in social position

   Her relatives regarded the marriage as a misalliance.

Formed from mis- and alliance, partly modeled on French mésalliance, from mésallier, meaning ‘to marry unsuitably.’ The social-marriage sense developed alongside the broader sense of an ill-matched partnership.

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