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:
Further “speculation on any proposed rule prior to it being published,” he said, “only serves to misguide public discourse and stoke fear in those who rely on disability benefits for economic stability.”
From Salon ● Nov. 2, 2025
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
They also cloud and misguide, often creating false — but powerful and entrenched — impressions that can outweigh more objective measures.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 21, 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
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
The High Court of Australia will sit on Tuesday and Wednesday as Reddit, one of the most popular websites in the world, argues the laws are misguided and should be overturned.
From Barron's ● Nov. 3, 2026
Being so empathetic toward one set of people that you are blinded to everyone else, she has written, “isn’t just misguided, it’s evil.”
From Salon ● Oct. 29, 2026
A former designer of Cheesecake Factory restaurants weighed in, however, to say the joke was misguided.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 28, 2026
However, Helen Barnard, director of policy and research at the anti-poverty charity Trussell, said the proposals were "deeply misguided".
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
I had tried to read up on what should happen at an execution; I had some misguided thought that I could intervene if they did something incorrectly.
From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson
"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
“I mean, we don’t do modeling like that. This is misguiding people.”
From New York Times ● Sep. 14, 2021
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
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
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
