misquote
Americanverb (used with or without object)
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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misquotesimple
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misquotessimple
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have misquotedperfect
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has misquotedperfect
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am misquotingprogressive
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are misquotingprogressive
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is misquotingprogressive
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have been misquotingperfect progressive
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has been misquotingperfect progressive
Past
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misquotedsimple
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had misquotedperfect
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was misquotingprogressive
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were misquotingprogressive
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had been misquotingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of misquote
Explanation
To misquote someone is to incorrectly repeat the words they've said. It's unethical for a journalist to deliberately misquote the subject of an interview. It's extremely common for people to misquote famous figures like Gandhi (who never literally said, "Be the change you wish to see in the world") and Machiavelli (who didn't exactly say, "The ends justify the means"). These examples can also be called misquotes. As with many words, Shakespeare is credited with being the first to use this combination of mis-, "wrong," and quote, "repeat or copy out exact words."
Vocabulary lists containing misquote
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:
Ziegler did not merely misquote Moore; she inverted its holding to endorse the very idea it rejected.
From Slate ● Nov. 26, 2025
And his personality - as he became known as 'the Special One' following a slight misquote from his opening Chelsea news conference - shook up the Premier League.
From BBC ● May 23, 2024
And, to misquote a well-known Monty Python line, “no one ever expects a pandemic.”
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 16, 2024
Green doubled down, asserting that he went back and confirmed the misquote himself.
From Salon ● Feb. 6, 2024
“What can I say? Her life is a tale told by idiots,” which, Rowan believed, was a very bad Shakespeare misquote.
From "Scythe" by Neal Shusterman
On March 16, 2021, the paper corrected a couple of misquotes that it had printed.
From Salon ● Jul. 8, 2022
Listed between celebrity misquotes and political mishaps was a trend for an oversized cat along with an orangutan who got free from a zoo and wreaked havoc.
From The Verge ● Jan. 30, 2019
Rep. Davis even misquotes it as: “Nothing in this bill shall allow insurance companies to deny anyone coverage for preexisting conditions.”
From Washington Post ● Oct. 29, 2018
It includes misquotes of Muslim figures of authority and elisions of fact that portray the Muslim community as dogmatic and unknowable.
From The Guardian ● Oct. 18, 2018
According to Clement of Alexandria, Taine tells us—though he misquotes the text—the Egyptians worshipped the crocodiles that devoured them.
From Penguin Island by France, Anatole
His opinion repeatedly misquoted key pieces of evidence to accuse officials of saying things that they did not.
From Slate ● Sep. 18, 2025
He later denied the report, saying the network misquoted him.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 15, 2024
His claim was debunked by several fact-checkers who said he had misquoted the former prime minister.
From BBC ● May 7, 2024
Purra apologised for making inappropriate comments in the past, but also said the media took many statements out of context, exaggerated and misquoted others and failed to recognise sarcasm.
From Reuters ● Aug. 31, 2023
Assuming that Snyder misspoke or was misquoted and meant to say that one homeless person died every forty-five seconds, that’s still 701,000 dead homeless people every year—roughly one-third of all deaths in the United States.
From "Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything" by Steven D. Levitt
A US entertainment website has apologised to the "people of Shotts" and Caitriona Balfe after a misquoting the Outlander actress calling the town "an armpit".
From BBC ● May 23, 2026
“I would hope that they would continue to recognize the primary intent of the paper and be very meticulous about avoiding misquoting or mischaracterizing what that paper is for.”
From Scientific American ● Oct. 16, 2023
Artificial intelligence accused of misquoting and defaming people online could face litigation as a result of the false information it outputs, legal experts warn.
From Washington Times ● Apr. 13, 2023
Phipps’s defense argued there was no physical evidence linking him as the shooter, but prosecutors secured a conviction after misquoting and taking his lyrics out of context.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 2, 2022
When he was done misquoting the poem on the Statue of Liberty, the youngest, Fifi, asked if she could blow out the candle, and Mami said only after everyone had made a wish.
From "How the García Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez
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.
