misinterpret
Americanverb (used with or without object)
-
misinterprets,
present (3rd person singular)
-
misinterpreted,
past participle, past
-
misinterpreting
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
misinterpretsimple
-
misinterpretssimple
-
have misinterpretedperfect
-
has misinterpretedperfect
-
am misinterpretingprogressive
-
are misinterpretingprogressive
-
is misinterpretingprogressive
-
have been misinterpretingperfect progressive
-
has been misinterpretingperfect progressive
Past
-
misinterpretedsimple
-
had misinterpretedperfect
-
was misinterpretingprogressive
-
were misinterpretingprogressive
-
had been misinterpretingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of misinterpret
Explanation
When you misinterpret something, you get it wrong. If you misinterpret another driver's wave as a friendly hello, you're probably missing the fact that he's trying to tell you one of your headlights has blown. Misinterpreting can be fun or embarrassing on a personal level––you can, say, misinterpret a boy's interest in your friend, and think he want to go out with you. But it can be devastating on an international level. During the Cold War, the US and the USSR had to be very careful about sending signals about nuclear readiness––the cost of misinterpreting could be a nuclear war.
Vocabulary lists containing misinterpret
mis-
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
mis-
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Part 1 Vocabulary (Unit 3)
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
Homeowners might also misinterpret the presence of mushrooms, which give cute Woodland Nymph vibes, but can indicate internal tree decay.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 4, 2026
It’s easy for students to misunderstand and misinterpret college award letters that specify the financial aid they will receive.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 31, 2025
Did “Walter Bloomberg” merely misinterpret a Fox News clip?
From Slate ● Apr. 8, 2025
"It was never my intention to misinterpret this deeply painful issue," he said in a statement.
From BBC ● Nov. 10, 2024
So much comes into my head at night when I’m alone, or during the day when I’m obliged to put up with people I can’t abide or who invariably misinterpret my intentions.
From "The Diary of a Young Girl" by Anne Frank
The court "misunderstands FIFRA's requirement, misinterprets the scope of FIFRA's preemption and ultimately leaves Durness without a remedy for the significant harms he has suffered."
From Barron's ● Jun. 25, 2026
Bentley introduced a detective who misinterprets the clues made available to the reader; his solution is proven wrong even though the same clues yield the correct answer.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 20, 2026
“We’re alone,” she tells someone who misinterprets her faith as something to ward off loneliness.
From Salon ● Feb. 5, 2024
The new research, Wen says, misinterprets these changes as caused by the core’s spin rather than to its fluctuating surface.
From Scientific American ● Jan. 25, 2023
Olly misinterprets my shiver and steps close to me to add his towel to my shoulders.
From "Everything, Everything" by Nicola Yoon
Under Lozano Jr., the paper expanded and shifted from foreign news to covering local issues that affected Latinos, topics that were either ignored or misinterpreted by its English-language counterparts.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026
Academic Hesbon Owilla told the BBC the president's comments were bound to be misinterpreted, especially by people who did not have the right documentation.
From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026
Taking multiple medications increases the opportunity for a side effect to be misinterpreted as a separate diagnosis.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 11, 2026
She later said the comments had been misinterpreted.
From Barron's ● Jul. 6, 2026
She denounced it as a “hodgepodge of plagiarism pulled from here, a bit from there, the whole misinterpreted and sensationalized to give color to the red-flag word SPIES.”
From "The Woman All Spies Fear" by Amy Butler Greenfield
Ritholtz does exactly that, running through such surefire ways to wreck your wealth as ignoring taxes, paying excessive fees, misinterpreting data, overreacting to short-term trends, and trading too much.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
On Friday he took to social media to criticize “the usual idiots misinterpreting a Post article on Mets payroll.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 22, 2025
This means geneticists will need to update their tools to avoid misinterpreting results.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 3, 2025
As rambling as it can be, misinterpreting “Die My Love” as anything other than Lawrence’s is impossible.
From Salon ● Nov. 7, 2025
Since there are serious consequences to misinterpreting these statements as absolute laws, a responsible writer should insert a qualifier like on average or all things being equal, together with a slightly or somewhat.
From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker
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.
