mistaken
Americanadjective
-
wrongly conceived, held, or done.
a mistaken antagonism.
- Synonyms:
- inaccurate
-
a mistaken answer.
-
having made a mistake; being in error.
adjective
-
(usually predicative) wrong in opinion, judgment, etc
she is mistaken
-
arising from error in judgment, opinion, etc
a mistaken viewpoint
Other Word Forms
- mistakenly adverb
- mistakenness noun
- unmistaken adjective
Etymology
Origin of mistaken
First recorded in 1590–1600; past participle of mistake; -en 3
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.
Widower Chris Baghsarian, 85, was taken from his home in North Ryde on 13 February, in what police say was a case of mistaken identity.
From BBC • Mar. 25, 2026
In the heart of Sao Paulo, a "prisonometer" keeps a live tally of people jailed due to Latin America's largest AI facial-recognition system, but its successes have been marred by mistaken arrests.
From Barron's • Mar. 17, 2026
It would never be mistaken for a dry lecture or a didactic pamphlet.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 13, 2026
Multiple people told the Washington Post that the school was “on a U.S. target list and may have been mistaken for a military site.”
From Salon • Mar. 13, 2026
Sometime between 1534 and 1549 Jean Taisnier, a musician and mathematician, remarked that Aristotle was sometimes mistaken; he was challenged by a representative of the pope to produce a convincing example of Aristotle being wrong.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
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.
