misunderstand
Americanverb (used with object)
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misunderstands,
present (3rd person singular)
-
misunderstood,
past participle, past
-
misunderstanding
present participle
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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
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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misunderstandsimple
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misunderstandssimple
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have misunderstoodperfect
-
has misunderstoodperfect
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am misunderstandingprogressive
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are misunderstandingprogressive
-
is misunderstandingprogressive
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have been misunderstandingperfect progressive
-
has been misunderstandingperfect progressive
Past
-
misunderstoodsimple
-
had misunderstoodperfect
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was misunderstandingprogressive
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were misunderstandingprogressive
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had been misunderstandingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of misunderstand
First recorded in 1150–1200, misunderstand is from the Middle English word misunderstanden. See mis- 1, understand
Explanation
To misunderstand is to incorrectly interpret what someone means. If you misunderstand the directions for taking your medication, you might end up feeling loopy or passing out. When a football player misunderstands the coach's instructions, he might make the wrong play. If a baker misunderstands what you ask him to write on your best friend's birthday cake, he might misspell her name. The verb misunderstand adds the "bad" or "wrong" prefix mis- to understand, from an Old English root, understandan, that literally means "stand in the midst of."
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:
We also discovered—without too much surprise—that he often seems to fundamentally misunderstand the works he treasures most deeply.
From Slate ● Jun. 11, 2026
What do audiences underestimate or misunderstand about what it takes to make a comedy?
From Los Angeles Times ● May 26, 2026
“People are desperate for indicators so they look at VIX and they misunderstand it,” says Scott Nations, president of volatility index developer Nations Indexes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 14, 2026
Kaufman acknowledged mistakes can occur, but suggested many complaints arise when parents complete age checks on behalf of their children or misunderstand the process.
From BBC ● Apr. 13, 2026
But of course Kainene understood what she meant and had simply chosen to misunderstand.
From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
It’s hard to describe how profoundly that misunderstands what the military ought to be.
From Slate ● Jun. 16, 2026
De Zylva argues this misunderstands the point: "The purpose of the green belt isn't to be green per se, it is to be a buffer to prevent sprawl."
From BBC ● Apr. 22, 2026
“This case misunderstands YouTube, which is a responsibly built streaming platform, not a social media site,” said Jose Castañeda, a Google spokesman, in a statement.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 28, 2026
Samet: Perhaps the market misunderstands the level of Nvidia’s software play.
From Barron's ● Mar. 27, 2026
The evidence is clear: not only does della Porta echo Garzoni’s words, but he misunderstands some of the experiments he claims to have performed, and so misreports them.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
Mere days after taking to the media to insist that he is a misunderstood film buff who just wants to save Hollywood, he threatened to help destroy it.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
The man who once said he would like to be “the King of Football” has often conducted himself as the organization’s sole executive, believing that any opponents simply misunderstood his purpose.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 1, 2026
But I do think many have collectively misunderstood his apparent message of regret.
From Slate ● Jul. 31, 2026
Gaines said in an interview that his sentence about “traditional style” has been misunderstood, and he rejects the claims of cultural insensitivity that have been leveled against him.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 13, 2026
As a people, we feel ourselves to be not only deeply injured, but grossly misunderstood.
From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander
Unlike the incident involving OpenAI's technology, Anthropic's models had access to the internet "due to a misunderstanding between us and our evaluation partner," called Irregular, Anthropic said in a blog post.
From Barron's ● Jul. 31, 2026
“From that point of view, it becomes a more serious story, and it goes beyond misunderstanding to something more worrying.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026
To some, it may feel like Araki is flattening complex social mores and misunderstanding the anxieties behind this era of semi-celibacy.
From Salon ● Jul. 31, 2026
A pair of diners who left a restaurant without paying a £115 bill - which included a £52 Dover sole - have said it was a "misunderstanding", its owner has said.
From BBC ● Jul. 7, 2026
“Really? Is it talking to me?” he asked, completely misunderstanding again.
From "The Very, Very Far North" by Dan Bar-el
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.
