misguide
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of misguide
1325–75; mis- 1 + guide; replacing Middle English misgien; see guy 2
Explanation
When you misguide someone, you lead them the wrong way. You might accidentally misguide a tourist by instructing him to turn left when he should have gone right. Use the verb misguide when you point someone in the wrong direction, either literally or in a figurative way: "I didn't mean to misguide you when I promised you'd love camping in the desert." Giving bad advice is one way to misguide someone, and giving bad driving directions is another. In the fourteenth century, misguide meant "to go astray," rather than "to lead someone else astray."
Vocabulary lists containing misguide
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
As expectations about what these products should detect increase, so too do the opportunities to let them misguide us and cause us to punish or profile innocent people.
From Slate ● Dec. 11, 2023
“The agents guide the people, or misguide them, into going illegally,” Anil Pratham, director of the anti-human trafficking unit of the Gujarat police, said in a telephone interview.
From New York Times ● Mar. 14, 2022
Don’t let the instant success stories of the past decade misguide you.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 30, 2021
The words lingered as he drove me home in silence, forming the genesis of a mantra that would frequently misguide me as I transformed myself into an Everything But Girl.
From Salon ● Feb. 10, 2013
She talks like that o' purpose to misguide us an' every one else that comes near.
From Little Folks A Magazine for the Young (Date of issue unknown) by Various
As it has done in the past, the White House on Tuesday derided Bonta’s lawsuits as misguided.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026
Curtailing the boom and the data centers behind it—as New York recently did—is misguided.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 2, 2026
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described those carrying out settler attacks as a handful of misguided young people: "150 juvenile delinquents", he's called them, or "70 teenagers from broken homes".
From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026
That doesn’t mean, however, that the gaming enthusiasts who’ve made such an uproar online are to be easily dismissed, or that they’re wrong about why this is a misguided business move in the long term.
From Slate ● Jul. 7, 2026
Do not be misguided by my poetic inclinations.
From "Salt to the Sea" by Ruta Sepetys
"We continue to do that and covering it up or misguiding the Environment Agency in any way is absolutely no part of that performance."
From BBC ● Dec. 4, 2023
PSG players celebrated with enthusiasm in front of their fans but the exuberance was somewhat misplaced and also misguiding.
From Washington Times ● Oct. 19, 2016
We all feel as if we have been entirely by-passed and badly misled and in so being have been misguiding those who have sought and heeded our advice.
From BBC ● Jun. 29, 2011
Result: potentially terribly misguiding images of events going around the world.
From New York Times ● Feb. 5, 2010
The misguided ideas of a misguided leader who in turn was misguiding his army and his people.
From "The Light in Hidden Places" by Sharon Cameron
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
