misread
Americanverb (used with or without object)
-
misreads,
present (3rd person singular)
-
misread,
past participle, past
-
misreading
present participle
-
to read wrongly.
-
to misunderstand or misinterpret.
verb
-
to read incorrectly
-
to misinterpret
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
misreadsimple
-
misreadssimple
-
have misreadperfect
-
has misreadperfect
-
am misreadingprogressive
-
are misreadingprogressive
-
is misreadingprogressive
-
have been misreadingperfect progressive
-
has been misreadingperfect progressive
Past
-
misreadsimple
-
had misreadperfect
-
was misreadingprogressive
-
were misreadingprogressive
-
had been misreadingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of misread
Explanation
To misread something is to read it but understand it in the wrong way. If you misread an article about local politics, you might end up supporting a candidate whose views you don't actually agree with. When you interpret a book, online article, or magazine story incorrectly, you misread it. You can also misread people, when you don't understand how they feel or what they intend: "She tended to misread cranky customers at the coffee shop, thinking they were joking when they were actually angry about something." The prefix mis- means "bad" or "wrong," and read can mean both "comprehend printed matter" or "make out a person's character."
Vocabulary lists containing misread
Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Prefixes: mis-
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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:
A dissent by presiding Justice Alison Tucher concluded the majority misread the proposition, which she said must adhere to the state’s civil rights laws.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026
Washington also ignored or misread current Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei’s comment that while he would allow the memorandum of understanding, he opposed it “as a matter of principle.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 12, 2026
The machines still stumble, pause, misread objects and often work best in controlled environments.
From MarketWatch ● May 27, 2026
Bell described the outcome of the latest review as an insult to the women who have "suffered as a direct result of their smear tests being misread".
From BBC ● May 14, 2026
At this critical moment, Gordievsky managed to persuade his MI6 contacts that the Soviets had misread NATO's intentions.
From "Spies: The Secret Showdown Between America and Russia" by Marc Favreau
But Mr. Ferguson misreads the law in going after NewsGuard, a private outfit.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 12, 2026
But that misreads how “The Late Show” crowd operates.
From Salon ● Dec. 6, 2025
He misreads my face and says, “Try to remember that tennis is play! Just relax and don’t think.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 15, 2024
It did not help that a couple of misreads meant he did not get to one through ball and Alejandro Garnacho failed to react to one of his.
From BBC ● Dec. 9, 2023
Soojin quickly glances at me, but either misreads my face or ignores it.
From "Amina's Voice" by Hena Khan
These systems are — as has been extensively and embarrassingly documented — prone to generating fabricated citations, misreading evidentiary context and issuing confident-sounding verdicts about matters they fundamentally do not understand.
From Salon ● Apr. 23, 2026
That is a completely ridiculous misreading of this speech.
From Slate ● Apr. 17, 2026
To say Iran is sitting pretty would be a misreading.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 8, 2026
For investors, the risk lies in misreading this moment as cyclical belt-tightening rather than structural repositioning.
From Barron's ● Mar. 7, 2026
Then, there were indications she was misreading the actual size of the islands.
From "Native Speaker" by Chang-rae Lee
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.
