misguided
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of misguided
Explanation
A misguided decision is one that's made without good judgment and careful thought. It would be misguided to think you could write your entire term paper in one night, or to climb into the polar bear exhibit at the zoo for a better look at them. Misguided is a polite way to say "a really dumb decision or belief." Your choice to go swimming in the ocean during a hurricane would definitely be considered misguided, and so would your decision to join the mountain climbing team if you are afraid of heights. Both are examples of unwise choices made after not enough deliberation. Misguided uses the prefix mis-, "bad or wrong," and guided, or "directed."
Vocabulary lists containing misguided
Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Prefixes: mis-
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"Should Communities Set Teen Curfews?" and "Curfews: A National Debate"
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mis-
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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.
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
Summers has said he was “deeply ashamed” and took “full responsibility for my misguided decision to continue communicating” with Epstein.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026
Recent calls from artificial-intelligence leaders to slow the technology’s development have rippled through the stock market — and Wall Street’s early reactions may be misguided.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 15, 2026
Fans loved Dunder Mifflin’s misguided regional manager Michael Scott in “The Office,” but Carell never felt the love from the academy.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 14, 2026
He had expected to encounter antagonism, even confrontation, and instead was being offered sly, misguided collusion.
From "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy
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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.
