misinterpret

verb

mis·​in·​ter·​pret ˌmi-sᵊn-ˈtər-prət 

-pət

misinterpreted; misinterpreting; misinterprets

transitive verb

1

: to explain wrongly

His comment on the speech misinterprets the speaker's meaning.

2

: to understand wrongly

Her silence should not be misinterpreted as consent.

Synonyms

• bend
• color
• cook
• distort
• falsify
• fudge
• garble
• misrelate
• misrepresent
• misstate
• pervert
• slant
• twist
• warp

Examples of misinterpret in a Sentence

He claims that his statements have been misinterpreted by the media.

Her silence should not be misinterpreted as consent.

Recent Examples on the Web

The son of the owner of the plates told KABC that the plates were misinterpreted and were never intended to mock the October 7 attack. —Thomas G. Moukawsher, Newsweek, 16 Dec. 2024

Herbert feared that even his own fans misinterpreted his heroic-savior myth of Paul Atreides, a boy-messiah played here by Timothée Chalamet. —Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 6 Dec. 2024

This is particularly problematic when dealing with unstructured data, as AI may misinterpret or misassign meaning, leading to inaccurate conclusions. —Michael Dennis, Forbes, 3 Dec. 2024

Pickens said officials misinterpreted his hand signs. —Ryan Gaydos, Fox News, 2 Dec. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1547, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

misinterpret

verb

mis·​in·​ter·​pret ˌmis-ᵊn-ˈtər-prət 

-pət

: to understand or explain wrongly

misinterpretation

-ˌtər-prə-ˈtā-shən 

-pə-ˈtā-

noun