Other forms: missteps
A misstep is a wrong move that causes trouble. A political misstep, an early misstep, a costly misstep.
It is gentler than blunder and implies a stumble rather than a fall, which is why it is the word used about people who are otherwise doing well. It is chiefly American in the figurative sense.
1nounmisstepA wrong move that causes trouble.
“One misstep during the negotiations could cost the company the whole deal.”
misstep is a mistake.
Middle English
steppen
English
step
English, today
misstep
Built from
From mis- + step. step comes from Middle English steppen. From Middle English steppen, from Old English steppan (“to step, go, proceed, advance”), stepe (“step”), from Proto-West Germanic stappjan, from Proto-Germanic stapjaną (“to step”), stapiz (“step”), from Proto-Indo-European stebʰ- (“to support, stomp, curse, be amazed”). Cognate with West Frisian stappe (“to step”), frr stape (“to walk, trudge”), Dutch stappen (“to step, walk”), wa steper (“to walk away, leave”), German stapfen (“to trudge, stomp, plod”) and further to Slavic Polish stąpać (“to stomp, stamp, step, tread”), Russian ступать and Polish stopień (“step, stair, rung, degree”), Russian степень. Related to stamp, stomp.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA