misrepresent
Americanverb (used with object)
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misrepresents,
present (3rd person singular)
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misrepresented,
past participle, past
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misrepresenting
present participle
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to represent incorrectly, improperly, or falsely.
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to represent in an unsatisfactory manner.
verb
Synonym Usage
Misrepresent, distort, falsify, belie share the sense of presenting information in a way that does not accord with the truth. Misrepresent usually involves a deliberate intention to deceive, either for profit or advantage: The dealer misrepresented the condition of the car. Distort implies a purposeful twisting or emphasizing of certain statements so as to produce an inaccurate or misleading impresssion: cleverly distorting the facts to create an impression of his own innocence. Falsify suggests a tampering with or alteration of facts, records, or documents, especially with the intent to cheat or deceive: He falsified the birth records to conceal his age. Belie means to create an impression that is inconsistent with the facts, or that contradicts other evidence but it does not usually suggest intent to deceive: Her casual, relaxed manner belies her insecurity.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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misrepresentationnoun
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misrepresenternoun
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premisrepresentverb (used with object)
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misrepresentativeadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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misrepresentsimple
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misrepresentssimple
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have misrepresentedperfect
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has misrepresentedperfect
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am misrepresentingprogressive
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are misrepresentingprogressive
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is misrepresentingprogressive
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have been misrepresentingperfect progressive
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has been misrepresentingperfect progressive
Past
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misrepresentedsimple
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had misrepresentedperfect
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was misrepresentingprogressive
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were misrepresentingprogressive
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had been misrepresentingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of misrepresent
Explanation
If you deliberately mislead someone — for example, by lying about your work experience at a job interview — you misrepresent yourself, or paint a false picture of who you are. The verb misrepresent can be a relatively gentle way to say "lie," or it can mean more of a bending of the truth. You might misrepresent the reliability of an old car you're trying to sell or accidentally misrepresent an author's intentions in a school book report. The word itself is built from the Old English prefix mis-, which means "bad or wrong," and represent, or "depict, describe, or symbolize."
Vocabulary lists containing misrepresent
Power Prefix: mis-
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mis-
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In the Words of Abraham Lincoln
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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:
In a statement issued on Monday afternoon, Manivannan said they were "horrified" that the comments had been "selectively edited in order to mislead people and misrepresent me".
From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026
Following the ruling, Meta said the company remains "confident in our record of protecting teens online and will continue to defend ourselves against claims that misrepresent the facts."
From Barron's ● Aug. 7, 2026
“We remain confident in our record of protecting teens online and will continue to defend ourselves against claims that misrepresent the facts.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026
Its hundreds of vessels use methods like spoofing their location signals and transferring oil at sea to misrepresent the origins of their cargoes and avoid getting caught.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 24, 2026
Both versions misrepresent what, in all likelihood, really happened.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
In this case, I can’t see how ironing out a few wrinkles and covering a rumpled duvet with a digital bedspread materially misrepresents your home.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 3, 2026
I’ve seen only the first three episodes, so I have no idea, apart from where the story misrepresents its real-life characters.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 27, 2025
The problem, of course, is that he misrepresents reality to do so.
From Slate ● Sep. 8, 2025
“Jennifer, you’ve been about the worst. The one who misrepresents the most intentionally.”
From Salon ● Jun. 26, 2025
“Freddie never lies. He misrepresents, but he never lies.”
From "Song of Solomon" by Toni Morrison
Lawyers for California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey are expected to question Bejar about Meta's practices around safety and growth, and whether the company publicly misrepresented what it knew, according to a court document.
From Barron's ● Aug. 18, 2026
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said reports about conditions aboard the Lincoln have been misrepresented.
From Salon ● Aug. 16, 2026
Hegseth, however, told journalists that conditions aboard the carrier have been "completely misrepresented."
From Barron's ● Aug. 13, 2026
The prime minister argues that was misrepresented by smugglers to promise an easy path to Europe.
From BBC ● Aug. 2, 2026
“Oh. This reminds me of this cute little cabin I stayed at in Amsterdam over last winter break. They misrepresented the picture online when I booked! My dad almost sued the pants off them.”
From "From Twinkle, with Love" by Sandhya Menon
But environmental groups have accused his companies of misrepresenting their assets to avoid paying environmental penalties.
From Salon ● Jun. 10, 2026
Mejia said that Sokoloff was misrepresenting how many audits his predecessor had done by counting the number of reports — not actual audits — released over that time.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 29, 2026
ImmunityBio received an FDA warning for misrepresenting Anktiva’s efficacy and administration, violating federal law.
From Barron's ● Mar. 24, 2026
When she came to the chief themes, she spoke of “false identity”—people misrepresenting who they really were.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 9, 2026
Later editions of her Surinam book were needlessly reorganized according to different classification systems, garbling and misrepresenting her findings.
From "The Girl Who Drew Butterflies: How Maria Merian's Art Changed Science" by Joyce Sidman
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.
