---

• v  make a mess of, destroy or ruin
• v  manage badly or incompetently

• The rumor ran that, not wanting any literary hack to mishandle her characters, Agatha Christie had left books satisfactorily killing off her legendary sleuths, Hercule Poirot .
• Among them: tougher criminal laws to punish defense contractors and Government workers who mishandle secret information, more restrictive secrecy classifications and expanded use .
• The instructional component is basically a PowerPoint presentation illustrated with graphic pictures and a video of what can happen to you and your flesh if you mishandle a .

• botch
• bodge
• bumble
• fumble
• botch up
• muff
• blow
• flub
• screw up
• ball up
• spoil
• muck up
• bungle
• fluff
• bollix
• bollix up
• bollocks
• bollocks up
• bobble
• louse up
• foul up
• mess up
• fuck up
• mismanage
• misconduct

News & Articles

---

• Our View: Children are hurt by political posturing
  If legislators wonder why constituents, at times, view the legislative process as disjointed, misdirected and wasteful, they only need to look at how they handle — or should we say mishandle — legislation supposedly intended to help improve situations, such as education for example.
  June 11, 2013 - The Norwich Bulletin

Quotes

---

• Tony Dungy in USA Today
  We weren't as sharp as we'd like to be. We couldn't make the plays we needed to put the game away, but it's something we expected,coach Tony Dungy said. "You obviously can't mishandle two punts and give them short fields. Those are...
• Robert Gates in CNN
  My greatest worry, if we mishandle the next year or two and if we leave Iraq in chaos, is that a variety of regional powers will become involved in Iraq, and we will have a regional conflict on our hands,Gates said.
• Ryan Callahan in USA Today
  I was trying to get there as quick as possible,Callahan said. "A lot of times, he makes the good play. ...... It's not too often he's going to mishandle it. I was just lucky enough to be there when he did."