misidentify

[ mis-ahy-den-tuh-fahy, -i-den- ]

verb (used with object)

, mis·i·den·ti·fied, mis·i·den·ti·fy·ing.

1. to identify incorrectly.

Other Words From

• misi·denti·fi·cation noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of misidentify¹

First recorded in 1890–95; mis- ¹ + identify

Example Sentences

Advocates for responsible uses of AI say that facial recognition technology often disproportionately misidentifies people of color, making it more likely that law enforcement agencies using the database could arrest the wrong person.

From Time

If an early-warning system misidentifies a nuclear attack, responders could initiate nuclear annihilation based on a misunderstanding.

From Science News

This is to say nothing of the capacity for simple underperformance—of a rifle that misreads the number of bullets left, or of one that misidentifies a civilian as an enemy.

From Popular-Science

They make tiny changes to an image that are hard to spot with a human eye but throw off an AI, causing it to misidentify who or what it sees in a photo.

From MIT Technology Review

Carlson criticized Mabry on his nightly show, but a Fox News spokesperson said the segment “had nothing to do with the Project Veritas clip of CNN’s editorial call” and that the host “did not misidentify Marcus Mabry.”

From Washington Post

Related Words

• amaze
• astonish
• astound
• baffle
• bewilder
• discombobulate
• dumbfound
• embarrass
• faze
• mystify
• perplex
• puzzle
• rattle
• startle
• surprise