mishear
Americanverb (used with object)
-
mishears,
present (3rd person singular)
-
misheard,
past participle, past
-
mishearing
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
mishearsimple
-
mishearssimple
-
have misheardperfect
-
has misheardperfect
-
am mishearingprogressive
-
are mishearingprogressive
-
is mishearingprogressive
-
have been mishearingperfect progressive
-
has been mishearingperfect progressive
Past
-
misheardsimple
-
had misheardperfect
-
was mishearingprogressive
-
were mishearingprogressive
-
had been mishearingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of mishear
before 1000; Middle English misheren, Old English mishīeran. See mis- 1, hear
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:
Someone wearing a headset might mishear an order for 26 nuggets.
From Salon ● Oct. 11, 2026
Bixby, I learned, has a tendency to mishear certain radio DJs saying “KEXP” as its own name.
From The Verge ● Apr. 8, 2022
I will tell you this: They are always listening for the wake word, and tech companies admit smart assistants mishear commands more often than any of us would like.
From Fox News ● Oct. 16, 2021
“Did we all mishear, or is this spokesperson really so shameless?”
From Reuters ● Feb. 10, 2021
People love to mishear “Imagine” as a ditty about how our righteous beliefs excuse us from taking necessary action.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 3, 2020
He emphasizes the importance of all 11 players remaining in sync because, if even one player mishears an assignment, the whole scheme crumbles.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 19, 2019
Caroline gets a taste of this fervor when in conversation with Cindy she mishears the words "personal savior " as "personal trainer" and starts laughing, causing an awkward silence between them.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 3, 2014
The guy in charge of the guest list mishears my name and lets me in as Tom Odell.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 24, 2013
He then goes to his car, there is a Jackie Leven CD playing and he mishears the song.
From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2012
The reporter may have misheard the comment, or maybe the person being quoted actually said it, or something odd happened in the editing process.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
But this was the first time I wondered if I had misheard him.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 21, 2025
He had gone by the nickname JC, short for James Cleveland, but after his teacher misheard him he was registered as Jesse and the name stuck.
From BBC ● Jul. 16, 2024
In Buffalo, New York, a different AI tool misheard Dr. Lauren Bruckner when she told a teenage cancer patient it was a good thing she didn’t have an allergy to sulfa drugs.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 12, 2024
That was definitely not what I’d expected Diego to say, and I was sure I’d misheard him.
From "We Are the Ants" by Shaun David Hutchinson
Masli, mishearing his worry, assumed he didn’t have a place to go and found someone in the audience who was happy to invite him to her house for a family gathering.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 21, 2025
A detailed run-down of Siri in 2011 from Ars Technica highlights problems familiar today, with the assistant dinged for mishearing instructions in loud spaces and mangling complex commands.
From The Verge ● Oct. 4, 2021
Companies say there are reasonable explanations, such as the device mishearing its “wake word”—which it recognizes to start listening to commands.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2018
This enlivens my replies until, through mishearing, a new level of communication is reached.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 18, 2017
“You say his name. And don’t tell me that I’m mishearing, because I know what I’ve heard.”
From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
