misunderstand
Americanverb (used with object)
-
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
-
misunderstandsimple
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misunderstandssimple
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have misunderstoodperfect
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has misunderstoodperfect
-
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
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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:
To dismiss that language as frivolous, Shah argues, is to misunderstand what it is doing.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
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
Nvidia remains undervalued by investors, perhaps because they misunderstand the company’s true data-center dominance.
From Barron's ● May 29, 2026
What do audiences underestimate or misunderstand about what it takes to make a comedy?
From Los Angeles Times ● May 26, 2026
Not to understand this is to misunderstand the public uses of schooling and to trivialize the nature of intimate life—a family’s ‘language.’
From "Hunger of Memory" by Richard Rodriguez
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
It misunderstands how the U.S. actually globalized—and why that model remains a source of strength rather than decline.
From Barron's ● Jan. 23, 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
Derived from basketball and developed by teenagers in late-Victorian England, netball is sport's great misunderstood "girly game".
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
I think the common denominator in all of us who love your music is that we are black sheep — the weird ones, the chronically misunderstood.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
John Quincy Adams reminds us that leadership can be ahead of its time, misunderstood in the moment yet essential in hindsight.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 30, 2026
But for a film to become a misunderstood classic, it has to be worth paying any attention to in the first place.
From Salon ● Jun. 27, 2026
I couldn’t restrain a smile, and he apparently misunderstood, because he stood up and ended the conversation abrupdy.
From "Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes
Mark Joseph Stern: There has been a lot of misunderstanding about exactly what the liberal justices did in B.P.J., and I want to clear that up.
From Slate ● Jul. 15, 2026
Tanny Martinez, owner of the restaurant, said the pair had now paid a week later and told him it was a "misunderstanding".
From BBC ● Jul. 7, 2026
Isaacman, an experienced aviator who has flown military aircraft for years, described the situation as a misunderstanding about the FAA’s role in an event like the 250th celebration and the aircraft.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 5, 2026
SpaceX’s IPO left Korean broker with no shares after misunderstanding.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 30, 2026
Unfortunately, their argument depends on a profound misunderstanding of Hobbes’s text.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
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.
