misguide

American

[mis-gahyd] / mɪsˈgaɪd /

verb (used with object)

misguided, misguiding

to guide wrongly; misdirect.

misguide British

/ ˌmɪsˈɡaɪd /

verb

(tr) to guide or direct wrongly or badly

"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

Other Word Forms

misguidance noun
misguider noun

Etymology

Origin of misguide

1325–75; mis- ¹ + guide; replacing Middle English misgien; guy ²

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.

Often, the source of their unfavorable choice is a misguided reliance on past performance.

From MarketWatch

More important still, even when we believed a president’s actions were misguided, we almost always wanted him to succeed if possible.

From The Wall Street Journal

Seth Lazar, a philosophy professor at the Australian National University, says the new measures were "extremely misguided, both as a matter of technological practice and from the perspective of liberal values".

From BBC

Not since “Cats” has there been a more misguided yet enterprising work of big-budget, intellectual property cinema.

From Salon

Out of misguided deference to supposed victims, they have been largely aiming their ire in the wrong direction.

From The Wall Street Journal

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023