misunderstand
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to take (words, statements, etc.) in a wrong sense; understand wrongly.
- Synonyms:
- misinterpret, misapprehend, misconstrue
-
to fail to understand or interpret rightly the words or behavior of.
verb
Other Word Forms
- misunderstander noun
Etymology
Origin of misunderstand
First recorded in 1150–1200, misunderstand is from the Middle English word misunderstanden. See mis- 1, understand
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.
“From what we see working with clients, Social Security leveling can be helpful, but it’s easy to misunderstand,” said Joon Um, a certified financial planner at Secure Tax & Accounting, Inc.
From MarketWatch
Many of Lam’s forays into modernism, into the 1940s—dependent, almost to the point of parody, on Picasso—are schematic misunderstandings of Cubism’s spatial complexities.
“And those coded notes you and your sister received at the Shoulder of Mutton? That was all some sort of misunderstanding?”
From Literature
This misunderstanding is pushing policy in the wrong direction.
Douglas told police there had been a misunderstanding and that he wasn’t a danger to himself or others.
From Los Angeles Times
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.
