mistook
Americanverb
verb
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.
Mott set off a security alarm when he jumped the fence, but the operator on duty mistook the cause of the alert as a herd of deer just outside the fence.
From Los Angeles Times • May 13, 2026
In another close encounter, while filming underwater a hungry walrus mistook him for a seal and took hold of his legs.
From BBC • Apr. 8, 2026
At least 59 detainees were freed because the system mistook them for other people.
From Barron's • Mar. 17, 2026
A black author once mistook me for Deroy Murdock, another black journalist who appears on Fox News.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 23, 2025
I just hoped there wasn’t some hunter who mistook me for Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and let me have it.
From "Dead End in Norvelt" by Jack Gantos
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.
