misunderstand

American  

[mis-uhn-der-stand] / ˌmɪs ʌn dərˈstænd /

verb (used with object)

• misunderstands,
  present (3rd person singular)
• misunderstood,
  past participle,  past
• misunderstanding
  present participle

1. to take (words, statements, etc.) in a wrong sense; understand wrongly.

   Synonyms:

   misinterpret, misapprehend, misconstrue

2. to fail to understand or interpret rightly the words or behavior of.

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misunderstand British  

/ ˌmɪsʌndəˈstænd /

verb

1. to fail to understand properly

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• misunderstander
  noun

Inflected Forms

Participles

• misunderstanding
  present
• misunderstood
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• misunderstand
  simple
• misunderstands
  simple
• have misunderstood
  perfect
• has misunderstood
  perfect
• am misunderstanding
  progressive
• are misunderstanding
  progressive
• is misunderstanding
  progressive
• have been misunderstanding
  perfect progressive
• has been misunderstanding
  perfect progressive

Past

• misunderstood
  simple
• had misunderstood
  perfect
• was misunderstanding
  progressive
• were misunderstanding
  progressive
• had been misunderstanding
  perfect progressive

Future

• will misunderstand
  simple
• will have misunderstood
  perfect
• will be misunderstanding
  progressive
• will have been misunderstanding
  perfect progressive

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

See Examples For:

misunderstand misunderstands misunderstood misunderstanding

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

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

“To suggest that one branch would seek to derive economic benefit from the Epstein matter would be to misunderstand those ties and to insult the decision-makers involved,” it said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 30, 2026

“Sir, you quite misunderstand me,” said Mrs. Bennet, alarmed.

From "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen

Is she the one who is out of line and misunderstands the boundaries of marriage?

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 1, 2026

Amazon responded by saying the FTC "fundamentally misunderstands how advertisers operate".

From BBC ● Aug. 31, 2026

For Barton, the red card illustrates something he believes the public still misunderstands: VAR does not eliminate the need for the referee to interpret the rules.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026

That is because Kagan believes the question itself misunderstands the Fourth Amendment.

From Slate ● Jun. 29, 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

Barrett and Nina Beckhardt, founder of the Naming Group agency, created the conference as a gathering place for this small and often misunderstood part of the larger marketing discipline, they said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026

When scientists first discussed the possibility, the idea became widely misunderstood.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 23, 2026

Caroline Hughes, senior support services Manager for Meningitis Research Foundation, said the long term consequences of the disease "remain widely misunderstood".

From BBC ● Sep. 21, 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

Whatever I may have understood or misunderstood in the dragon’s talk, something much deeper stayed with me, became my aura.

From "Grendel" by John Gardner

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga has called the incident a "diplomatic misunderstanding".

From Barron's ● Oct. 8, 2026

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha on Thursday described the situation as a "diplomatic misunderstanding", adding that Kyiv was "working" to resolve it.

From BBC ● Oct. 2, 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

“Yeah? Must be a twin thing,” he says, misunderstanding.

From "I'll Give You the Sun" by Jandy Nelson

Related Words

• confuse
• miscalculate
• misconstrue
• misinterpret
• misjudge
• misread