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:
Investors misread the mood music on U.S.-Canadian trade talks, in a big way.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 25, 2026
With rain lashing down in Pennsylvania, both players took two of the next six holes before Leng Jr misread a putt on the 12th to hand his opponent a three-hole lead.
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026
A temporary panic flared up in May when many observers misread options activity on a filing and concluded Aschenbrenner turned bearish.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 8, 2026
The machines still stumble, pause, misread objects and often work best in controlled environments.
From MarketWatch ● May 27, 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
Carolina Milanesi, an analyst at Creative Strategies, said that misreads how consumers actually adopt technology.
From Barron's ● Aug. 31, 2026
But that misreads an endnote: As I make clear in the text, the number refers specifically to German casualties during the first three months of Operation Barbarossa.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2025
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
There is a slew of misreads or errors that concern me by the public, news media, and others.
From Salon ● Apr. 10, 2023
Soojin quickly glances at me, but either misreads my face or ignores it.
From "Amina's Voice" by Hena Khan
Roblox stock declines as Wall Street believes investors could be misreading the videogame company’s business trajectory.
From Barron's ● Sep. 28, 2026
But where Hwan’s Christianity is a willful, grotesque misreading of the Bible, Latif actively wrestles with his moral shortcomings.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026
If that were true, astronomers could have been misreading the supernova data and incorrectly concluding that cosmic expansion was speeding up when it was actually slowing.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 29, 2026
But Gawat caught several errors in real time, including a misreading of his vitamin D level, which was low.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
The apparent textual anomalies are artifacts, products of misreading.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
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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.
