misinform
Americanverb (used with object)
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misinforms,
present (3rd person singular)
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misinformed,
past participle, past
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misinforming
present participle
verb
Usage
What's the difference between misinform and disinform? To misinform someone is to provide them with false information, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that it is being done intentionally. Disinform, which is much less commonly used, means to intentionally provide or spread false information with the intent to mislead or deceive. This distinction can also be seen in the difference between their verb forms, misinformation and disinformation. Misinformation refers to false information, regardless of whether or not it’s intended to mislead or deceive people. In contrast, disinformation refers to false information that’s spread with the specific intent of misleading or deceiving people. Due to their similarity, the terms are sometimes used in overlapping ways. All disinformation is misinformation, but not all misinformation is disinformation. Disinformation is the more specific of the two because it always implies that the false information is being provided or spread on purpose. Disinform and disinformation are especially used in the context of large-scale deception, such as a disinformation campaign by a government that targets the population of another country. On the other hand, a person can intentionally misinform someone, but they could also misinform someone by telling them false information that they believe to be true. The adjective misinformed can be used to describe people who have been the recipient of misinformation. One way to remember the difference between misinform and disinform is to remember that to misinform can be a mistake, while to disinform is always dishonest. Here’s an example of misinform and disinform used correctly in a sentence. Example: The intelligence report concluded that the rumors spread prior to the election were not simply the result of a few random people misinforming others, but rather of a coordinated campaign by a foreign power to disinform the electorate. Want to learn more? Read the breakdown of the difference between misinformation and disinformation.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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misinformsimple
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misinformssimple
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have misinformedperfect
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has misinformedperfect
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am misinformingprogressive
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are misinformingprogressive
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is misinformingprogressive
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have been misinformingperfect progressive
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has been misinformingperfect progressive
Past
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misinformedsimple
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had misinformedperfect
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was misinformingprogressive
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were misinformingprogressive
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had been misinformingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of misinform
First recorded in 1350–1400, misinform is from the Middle English word misenfourmen. See mis- 1, inform 1
Explanation
When you misinform someone, you give them the wrong information. If you misinform your friend about what homework is due tomorrow, he may do the wrong math problems. It's possible to misinform people on purpose (deliberately giving them false information), or accidentally. To inform someone is to provide them with information — to educate or advise them about something. Inform comes from a Latin root, informare, "train or instruct," and literally "shape or form." Adding the "wrong" or "not" prefix mis- gives you misinform, "to instruct in the wrong way."
Vocabulary lists containing misinform
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:
“Bad actors are using A.I.-generated voices in unsolicited robocalls to extort vulnerable family members, imitate celebrities and misinform voters.”
From New York Times ● Feb. 8, 2024
It said that “nobody is allowed to terrorize and misinform the public” on public health issues.
From Washington Times ● Dec. 6, 2023
"Media Matters created an alternate account and curated the posts and advertising appearing on the account's timeline to misinform advertisers about the placement of their posts."
From Reuters ● Nov. 18, 2023
Mr Jones said he felt Mr Fabricant was trying to mislead, misinform and was "changing the narrative, apportioning blame".
From BBC ● Apr. 13, 2022
Ma I aint sputing you, jes somebody done misinform you dats all.
From Slave Narratives: a Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves Florida Narratives by Work Projects Administration
Mozilla senior director of advocacy Brandy Guerkink says “YouTube needs to admit their algorithm is designed in a way that harms and misinforms people.”
From The Verge ● Jul. 7, 2021
Once absorbed into received knowledge, such research misinforms subsequent scientific judgments.
From Scientific American ● Dec. 27, 2020
Q: Do you think social media ever misinforms about what it’s like to live this way?
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 30, 2020
Enough running attention-grabbing news coverage that not only misinforms the public, but endangers the very community members you serve.
From Salon ● Jun. 8, 2019
In the final test, they provided much more detail about the specific flaws in the Oregon Petition, and how it misinforms people.
From The Guardian ● Jan. 24, 2017
The study states that the false belief has led "to negative consequences, including misinformed risk‐taking by those encountering snakes, unwarranted fear among snakebite victims, and inappropriate care delivered by misinformed or patient/family‐pressured medical professionals."
From Science Daily ● Jul. 10, 2026
Rama has pivoted between downplaying the protesters as misinformed and dismissing the movement as foreign-backed.
From Barron's ● Jun. 12, 2026
Once a correspondent on Jon Stewart’s “The Daily Show,” he landed his own Comedy Central show, “The Colbert Report,” where he played a bloviating, misinformed character, also named Stephen Colbert.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 20, 2026
The answer needs to have numbers in it, and if the numbers don’t have minus signs in front of them, your adviser is misinformed.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 1, 2026
Well-meaning but misinformed people think animals in the wild are “happy” because they are “free”.
From "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel
Seattle police officers will be limited in using ruses — a tactic of deliberately misinforming the public — starting Wednesday, following a three-year push to create a policy.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 30, 2023
Romanian officials are not explaining their previous vehement denials of the drone incident, although the defence minister is taking the blame for "misinforming" the country's president.
From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2023
Beyond misinforming the public, its story distorted U.S. policy decisions and, most important, deepened patients’ suffering, which it cannot be said enough, is very real.
From Scientific American ● Mar. 6, 2023
We should make sure that dashboards offer more, not less, explanatory value than the misinforming narratives that vastly outnumber the charts and graphs published by states and newspapers.
From Slate ● Feb. 8, 2021
Besides which she had more than enough to do in caring for her own house, mending my father’s clothes and misinforming the public as to Post Office regulations.
From The Dew of Their Youth by S. R. (Samuel Rutherford) Crockett
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.
