as in incorrectly
in a mistaken or inappropriate way
she inappropriately referred to my chaperone as my father, and not as my stepfather
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of inappropriately
The passenger claimed Riley noticed the kids were watching, but continued to act inappropriately, at one point allegedly appearing to perform oral sex.
—
Brian Niemietz, Mercury News, 7 Nov. 2025
During the previous school year, the boy strangled and choked a teacher and pulled up a female classmate’s dress and touched her inappropriately on the school playground, the lawsuit claims.
—Cindy Von Quednow, CNN Money, 30 Oct. 2025
Sheriff’s officials said that Jaekel also asked one of the children for nude pictures of herself and that each of the four victims witnessed Jaekel inappropriately touching the other female family members.
—Rosalio Ahumada, Sacbee.com, 28 Oct. 2025
Gopnik credits Kleinschmidt with considerable, if ponderous, insight laced with anecdotes, often inappropriately intimate, about his many famous literary and artistic patients.
—Literary Hub, 20 Oct. 2025
During the subsequent custody battle, Farrow alleged that Allen had behaved inappropriately with their daughter Dylan Farrow.
—Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 13 Oct. 2025
The students claimed Riscovallez would inappropriately touch them and give them gifts such as trading cards and candy, according to a press release from Leavenworth County Attorney Todd Thompson.
—Caroline Zimmerman, Kansas City Star, 10 Oct. 2025
Eilish has spoken out in the past about fans behaving inappropriately at concerts.
—Jon Blistein, Rolling Stone, 10 Oct. 2025
She’s dressed inappropriately for everything.
—Kate Erbland, IndieWire, 9 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for inappropriately
Adverb
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Well, even though air-drying clothes on a drying rack has many benefits (especially for the planet), experts agree that line-drying incorrectly can start a big mold problem within and behind your walls.—
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The last major round of protests came in 2022, spurred by the death in police custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was arrested by the theocratic government's forces for allegedly wearing her headscarf incorrectly.—
Adverb
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The next day, in an email, Wynn appears to explain, blaming a dollar figure for teachers’ benefits that was mistakenly counted twice.—
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It is thought the United States was notified before its first use in late 2024, to ensure it was not mistakenly assessed to be a nuclear launch.—
Adverb
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And huge doses of vitamin C (once erroneously thought to stave off colds) can stomach upset, diarrhoea and, in extreme cases, kidney stones.—
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That website erroneously shows the department spent $304,920.—
Adverb
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For example, Apple briefly turned off an AI feature that rewrote push notifications from news apps inaccurately (it’s since been turned back on by default).—
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For example, pro-Trump chatbots inaccurately attributed job growth solely to his administration, overlooking economic continuity from the Obama era.—
Cite this Entry
“Inappropriately.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/inappropriately. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.
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