misconstrue

[ mis-kuhn-stroo or, especially British, mis-kon-stroo ]
See synonyms for: misconstruemisconstrued on Thesaurus.com

verb (used with object),mis·con·strued, mis·con·stru·ing.
  1. to misunderstand the meaning of; take in a wrong sense; misinterpret.

Origin of misconstrue

1
Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400; see origin at mis-1, construe

Other words for misconstrue

Words Nearby misconstrue

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use misconstrue in a sentence

  • Surely, an unreconstructed snob could misconstrue much more.

  • "After the Mark Sanford thing, I didn't want anybody to misconstrue [my vacation]," Flake said.

    D.C.'s New Beefcake | Maureen O'Connor | October 14, 2009 | THE DAILY BEAST
  • The fairest observers misconstrue all motives to action, where any received prepossession has found an hypothesis.

    Camilla | Fanny Burney
  • I put in, to laugh Uvo out of the morbid vein which I understood in him but others might easily misconstrue.

    Witching Hill | E. W. Hornung
  • Let us find out what we are talking about, lest we should misconstrue and misunderstand each other.

  • But we must not misconstrue words in our versions of a style so loose.

    The Apostles | Ernest Renan
  • You will not misconstrue my words, but—but life is not always the same, is it?

    Gordon Craig | Randall Parrish

British Dictionary definitions for misconstrue

misconstrue

/ (ˌmɪskənˈstruː) /


verb-strues, -struing or -strued
  1. (tr) to interpret mistakenly

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012