misquote
Americanverb (used with or without object)
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misquotes,
present (3rd person singular)
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misquoted,
past participle, past
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misquoting
present participle
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
misquotesimple
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misquotessimple
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have misquotedperfect
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has misquotedperfect
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am misquotingprogressive
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are misquotingprogressive
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is misquotingprogressive
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have been misquotingperfect progressive
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has been misquotingperfect progressive
Past
-
misquotedsimple
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had misquotedperfect
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was misquotingprogressive
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were misquotingprogressive
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had been misquotingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of misquote
Explanation
To misquote someone is to incorrectly repeat the words they've said. It's unethical for a journalist to deliberately misquote the subject of an interview. It's extremely common for people to misquote famous figures like Gandhi (who never literally said, "Be the change you wish to see in the world") and Machiavelli (who didn't exactly say, "The ends justify the means"). These examples can also be called misquotes. As with many words, Shakespeare is credited with being the first to use this combination of mis-, "wrong," and quote, "repeat or copy out exact words."
Vocabulary lists containing misquote
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:
Ziegler did not merely misquote Moore; she inverted its holding to endorse the very idea it rejected.
From Slate ● Nov. 26, 2025
And his personality - as he became known as 'the Special One' following a slight misquote from his opening Chelsea news conference - shook up the Premier League.
From BBC ● May 23, 2024
And, to misquote a well-known Monty Python line, “no one ever expects a pandemic.”
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 16, 2024
When I said “I won a Pulitzer Prize,” that was a misquote.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 28, 2022
Danny caught his father in a misquote, ran to get a Talmud from a shelf, and triumphantly showed his father where he had been wrong.
From "The Chosen" by Chaim Potok
But its existence also means there’s no excuses for misattribution or misquotes, which is surely part of its at least temporary revival.
From Salon ● Mar. 10, 2026
ChatGPT, Ms. Shackney said, sometimes incorrectly explains ideas and misquotes sources.
From New York Times ● Jan. 16, 2023
Speaking elegantly, he quotes — and misquotes — poets, scientists and former leaders, weaving fragments of history into his long monologues that lay out a dark and at times contradictory worldview.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 18, 2021
Listed between celebrity misquotes and political mishaps was a trend for an oversized cat along with an orangutan who got free from a zoo and wreaked havoc.
From The Verge ● Jan. 30, 2019
Dean Stanley misquotes the oracle, and does injustice to the old heathen prophet.
From Fables of Infidelity and Facts of Faith Being an Examination of the Evidences of Infidelity by Robert Patterson
Few writers have been more quoted — or misquoted — than Orwell.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2025
His opinion repeatedly misquoted key pieces of evidence to accuse officials of saying things that they did not.
From Slate ● Sep. 18, 2025
But this statement has been frequently misquoted and transformed, with Barack Obama saying, “The arc of history is long, but it bends towards justice.”
From Salon ● Jul. 26, 2025
After he said he had been misquoted by the magazine, the Atlantic released audio from the interview showing it was an accurate quote.
From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2023
Assuming that Snyder misspoke or was misquoted and meant to say that one homeless person died every forty-five seconds, that’s still 701,000 dead homeless people every year—roughly one-third of all deaths in the United States.
From "Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything" by Steven D. Levitt
In any case, the Post did not fire Attiah for misquoting Kirk, although according to a CNN report that cited two staffers from the newspaper, “management also took issue” with the mistake.
From Salon ● Aug. 25, 2026
A US entertainment website has apologised to the "people of Shotts" and Caitriona Balfe after a misquoting the Outlander actress calling the town "an armpit".
From BBC ● May 23, 2026
Slightly misquoting Mark Twain, Mr. Carter posted on social media: “Rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated.”
From New York Times ● Apr. 23, 2024
“I would hope that they would continue to recognize the primary intent of the paper and be very meticulous about avoiding misquoting or mischaracterizing what that paper is for.”
From Scientific American ● Oct. 16, 2023
“Now you’re misquoting the Bible phrase that became the first Morse code message transmitted in the United States on May twenty-fourth, 1844!”
From "The Smartest Kid in the Universe" by Chris Grabenstein
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.
