What does miscuing mean?
Miscuing means making an error when carrying out an action that depends on a cue, signal, or precise timing. The word is especially common in sports, where a player may miscue a shot or pass by striking or sending it in the wrong direction or at the wrong moment. It also occurs in billiards and pool, where a player miscues by failing to strike the cue ball as intended, and in performance, where an actor or musician may enter late or misread the timing of a cue. More generally, the verb describes any awkward failure of coordination between an intended action and its execution. “Miscue” is a concise, slightly technical word that is more evocative than a general term such as “mistake,” because it implies that a planned movement went wrong at the moment it was attempted.
To make an error in executing or responding to a cue, especially by mistiming an action or failing to strike or send something as intended.
"The goalkeeper miscued the kick and allowed the ball into the net."
Used particularly in sports, billiards, pool, and performance contexts.
An error in executing or responding to a cue, especially a mistimed or mistrived action in a sport or performance.
"Her miscue at the free-throw line cost the team two points."
Common in sports and performance reporting; less common in general conversation.
From a missed shot on the green baize to a mistimed entrance on stage, a miscue is the moment when intention and execution fall out of step.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does miscuing come from?
The word combines the prefix “mis-” with “cue,” meaning a signal or prompting action. “Cue” entered English in the sixteenth century from French “cue,” a variant of “queue,” ultimately from Latin “cauda,” meaning “tail.” The form “miscue” developed later as a verb and noun associated especially with errors in striking a ball or responding to a cue.
Related word forms
How miscuing is actually used
Most common in sports, billiards, and performing arts, but also used more broadly for a mistake in timing or response to a signal. It is more specialized and less common than general words such as “mistime” or “misjudge.”
Easily confused with miscuing
To miss a cue is to fail to receive or act on a signal, whereas to miscue is to make an error while carrying out the signaled action.
A fumble is generally a clumsy handling or loss of control, while a miscue specifically concerns an error in timing, aiming, or execution of a signaled action.