misunderstand
Americanverb (used with object)
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misunderstands,
present (3rd person singular)
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misunderstood,
past participle, past
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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
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has misunderstoodperfect
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am misunderstandingprogressive
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are misunderstandingprogressive
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is misunderstandingprogressive
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have been misunderstandingperfect progressive
-
has been misunderstandingperfect progressive
Past
-
misunderstoodsimple
-
had misunderstoodperfect
-
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:
On a recent episode of What Next, host Mary Harris spoke to Pulido about what Democrats misunderstand about South Texas and whether he’s singing the right tune for Congress.
From Slate ● Sep. 28, 2026
Hopefully Hollywood won’t misunderstand the lesson in those projects’ success.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026
To dismiss that language as frivolous, Shah argues, is to misunderstand what it is doing.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
They misunderstand the proper role of an economic system.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 2, 2026
Then, so Chester couldn’t misunderstand, he made a chirping noise himself.
From "The Cricket in Times Square" by George Selden
In response Kundizeza wrote: "To suggest that a writer cannot write in different styles or genres, or improve his writing substantially after five or more years fundamentally misunderstands the craft of writing."
From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026
Is she the one who is out of line and misunderstands the boundaries of marriage?
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 1, 2026
Such a view misunderstands what the court is up to in those rare instances when it has stood up to the president.
From Slate ● Sep. 16, 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
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
Israeli food isn’t the world’s only culinary melting pot, but it may be the most misunderstood.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2026
"I do not want to entrust national pride to the wrong people," said Klopp, who prefers the term "positive patriotism" to "national pride", which he fears can be misunderstood.
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
If its reach has been misunderstood, other explanations built around the traditional model may also need to be reconsidered.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 14, 2026
Holmes and Evans embrace what they call “radical transparency,” opening their home to the cameras in hopes of convincing the filmmakers — and eventually the world — that the public has fundamentally misunderstood her.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 7, 2026
As a people, we feel ourselves to be not only deeply injured, but grossly misunderstood.
From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander
Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga has called the incident a "diplomatic misunderstanding".
From Barron's ● Oct. 8, 2026
"Many teeth from Saurichthys were once mistaken for those of an amphibian, and that misunderstanding continued well into the 20th Century," said Museum Wales curator Cindy Howells.
From BBC ● Sep. 28, 2026
When he began practicing urology in the 1980s, the common misunderstanding was that testosterone injections caused prostate cancer, further suppressing research and treatment of testosterone deficiency.
From Slate ● Sep. 13, 2026
This objection rests on a basic misunderstanding of these systems.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 2026
Their only real interaction with American kids came about as a result of a misunderstanding.
From "Outcasts United: An American Town, a Refugee Team, and One Woman's Quest to Make a Difference" by Warren St. John
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.
