misrepresent
Americanverb (used with object)
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to represent incorrectly, improperly, or falsely.
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to represent in an unsatisfactory manner.
verb
Synonym Usage
Misrepresent, distort, falsify, belie share the sense of presenting information in a way that does not accord with the truth. Misrepresent usually involves a deliberate intention to deceive, either for profit or advantage: The dealer misrepresented the condition of the car. Distort implies a purposeful twisting or emphasizing of certain statements so as to produce an inaccurate or misleading impresssion: cleverly distorting the facts to create an impression of his own innocence. Falsify suggests a tampering with or alteration of facts, records, or documents, especially with the intent to cheat or deceive: He falsified the birth records to conceal his age. Belie means to create an impression that is inconsistent with the facts, or that contradicts other evidence but it does not usually suggest intent to deceive: Her casual, relaxed manner belies her insecurity.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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misrepresentationnoun
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misrepresenternoun
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premisrepresentverb (used with object)
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misrepresentativeadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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misrepresentsimple
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misrepresentssimple
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have misrepresentedperfect
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has misrepresentedperfect
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am misrepresentingprogressive
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are misrepresentingprogressive
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is misrepresentingprogressive
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have been misrepresentingperfect progressive
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has been misrepresentingperfect progressive
Past
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misrepresentedsimple
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had misrepresentedperfect
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was misrepresentingprogressive
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were misrepresentingprogressive
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had been misrepresentingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of misrepresent
Explanation
If you deliberately mislead someone — for example, by lying about your work experience at a job interview — you misrepresent yourself, or paint a false picture of who you are. The verb misrepresent can be a relatively gentle way to say "lie," or it can mean more of a bending of the truth. You might misrepresent the reliability of an old car you're trying to sell or accidentally misrepresent an author's intentions in a school book report. The word itself is built from the Old English prefix mis-, which means "bad or wrong," and represent, or "depict, describe, or symbolize."
Vocabulary lists containing misrepresent
Power Prefix: mis-
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mis-
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In the Words of Abraham Lincoln
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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:
Its hundreds of vessels use methods like spoofing their location signals and transferring oil at sea to misrepresent the origins of their cargoes and avoid getting caught.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 24, 2026
She had no intention to misquote or misrepresent the rulings and that "the mistake occurred solely due to the reliance on an automatic source", the high court wrote.
From BBC ● Mar. 3, 2026
The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute said the ad campaign used “selective audio and video” to misrepresent the former president’s address.
From Salon ● Dec. 2, 2025
But there are things you can do as an attorney if you misrepresent the record.
From Slate ● Oct. 9, 2025
Facts are made in the image not of people, who misremember, misquote and misrepresent, but of books, immutable but mobile.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
In this case, I can’t see how ironing out a few wrinkles and covering a rumpled duvet with a digital bedspread materially misrepresents your home.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 3, 2026
Meta disputed the organisation's findings published last September, saying it "misrepresents our efforts to empower parents and protect teens".
From BBC ● Feb. 26, 2026
The problem, of course, is that he misrepresents reality to do so.
From Slate ● Sep. 8, 2025
The company, he said, misrepresents how safe the platform is to both its users and shareholders.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 15, 2025
“Freddie never lies. He misrepresents, but he never lies.”
From "Song of Solomon" by Toni Morrison
Tyra Banks has filed a defamation lawsuit against Netflix and the directors of “Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model,” claiming that she was manipulated and misrepresented in the series.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 16, 2026
He caught seven quotes attributed to previous court rulings that either did not appear in the original decisions or had been misrepresented.
From Barron's ● Jun. 15, 2026
“IULs are not inherently bad, but it’s misrepresented, sometimes fraudulently,” said Bill Boersma, a life-insurance expert who consulted on Busch’s case.
From MarketWatch ● May 27, 2026
“It subsequently turned out that they had misrepresented the number of their bots and it was much higher than 5%,” he testified.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 20, 2026
No one will care what events and which individuals were misrepresented to make a novel.
From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan
In November 2025, Monarch Tractor was sued by the Idaho-based dealership Burks Tractor, which accused Monarch of misrepresenting its autonomous technology.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 15, 2026
But environmental groups have accused his companies of misrepresenting their assets to avoid paying environmental penalties.
From Salon ● Jun. 10, 2026
ImmunityBio received an FDA warning for misrepresenting Anktiva’s efficacy and administration, violating federal law.
From Barron's ● Mar. 24, 2026
Prosecutors said that Milton made repeated statements exaggerating or misrepresenting the capabilities of the company and its products.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 18, 2026
Later editions of her Surinam book were needlessly reorganized according to different classification systems, garbling and misrepresenting her findings.
From "The Girl Who Drew Butterflies: How Maria Merian's Art Changed Science" by Joyce Sidman
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.
