misrule means the state of being ruled badly; disorder, lawlessness, anarchy. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 80 out of 100.
misrule is pronounced /mɪsˈɹuːl/.
Why “misrule” is a great word
MISRULE — [Noun, Verb] A state of disorder and injustice arising from bad or wrongful governance. From Middle English mysrule, equivalent to the prefix mis- ("badly, wrongly") + rule ("govern, control"). First attested in the 14th century. Unlike "anarchy," which implies a vacuum of authority, or "maladministration," which denotes bureaucratic inefficiency, misrule is the active, corrosive force of authority turned toxic. It is the king's feast while the city starves, the sold verdict from the bench, and the brigand who wears the taxman's seal—a testament that the cruelest chaos is not the absence of rule, but its malevolent application.
noun
- The state of being ruled badly; disorder, lawlessness, anarchy.“They followed their leader in regular procession, and the motley characters, which had waited his arrival, now crowded into the church in his train, shouting as they came,—“A hall, a hall! for the venerable Father Howleglas, the learned Monk of Misrule, and the Right Reverend Abbot of Unreason!””
- Misgovernment; bad or unjust government.“But in the recent past, there had been plenty of accusations and instances of Henry's oppressive misrule, of which the execution of the earl of Warwick, Suffolk's cousin, was the most recent and emphatic example.”
verb
- Of a trial judge, to make a bad decision in court.
- To rule badly; to misgovern.