mistranslate
Americanverb (used with or without object)
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mistranslates,
present (3rd person singular)
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mistranslated,
past participle, past
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mistranslating
present participle
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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mistranslatesimple
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mistranslatessimple
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have mistranslatedperfect
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has mistranslatedperfect
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am mistranslatingprogressive
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are mistranslatingprogressive
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is mistranslatingprogressive
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have been mistranslatingperfect progressive
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has been mistranslatingperfect progressive
Past
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mistranslatedsimple
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had mistranslatedperfect
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was mistranslatingprogressive
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were mistranslatingprogressive
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had been mistranslatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of mistranslate
Explanation
If you mistranslate something, you don't accurately describe or convey its meaning. It's easy to mistranslate a poem when you convert it from Spanish to English, failing to make its original meaning clear. When someone literally mistranslates a piece of writing or a section of speech, they use the wrong words when translating from one language to another. You can also mistranslate the intention of someone's words, even if you're not actually translating between two languages: "I managed to mistranslate my grandmother's message when I gave it to the gardener." Translate means "turn from one language to another," and mis- means "badly."
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:
When the interpreter is a no-show, family members often jump in to fill the gap - like the time Ray mischievously stepped up to "mistranslate" his school parents' evening to his own advantage.
From BBC ● Dec. 27, 2021
I then heard the interpreter mistranslate this question into Mandarin as “Why didn’t the interpreter interpret everything?”
From The New Yorker ● Oct. 12, 2015
Emoji also tend to mistranslate when sent between platforms, or they get jumbled if you don’t have the right font.
From New York Times ● Jul. 25, 2014
Did they mistranslate “world’s largest professional network” as “professional network that people actually use”?
From Slate ● Jun. 7, 2012
To translate it as ‘machine of the world’ is to mistranslate.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
Another popular choice is the Chinese character for “freedom,” which mistranslates to mian fei, or “free of charge.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 24, 2023
Lane mistranslates, "Made for her a funeral procession."
From The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 10 by Sir Richard Francis Burton
For instance, the line “The medicine will help you to: Kill as many myeloma cells as possible” was mistranslated as instructing the patient to somehow kill as many myeloma cells as possible.
From Slate ● Oct. 16, 2026
One chunk of land was secured by one of Shehu’s lawyers in 2007 by presenting property officials a mistranslated Ottoman-era land record.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 9, 2026
The line identifying the member of the Royal Family isn't in the English text, so it hasn't been mistranslated.
From BBC ● Nov. 29, 2023
In “The Life Assignment,” you first write in Spanish, and at times you mistranslated into English, how and why did you take that approach?
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 26, 2023
This accurate description somehow got mistranslated as ‘tube’, but modern medicine seems to be stuck with the inaccurate version of the term.’
From "The Scientists" by John Gribbin
Her Asian-American critics, like Jeffery Chan and Benjamin Tong, accused her of inauthenticity, willfully mistranslating Chinese stories and customs to appeal to a white readership.
From The New Yorker ● Dec. 30, 2019
One of his interpreters confessed to frequently mistranslating his boss so as to make sense of the nonsense Arafat had spoken.
From Time Magazine Archive
And cites Prisot; mistranslating 'ancien scripture' into 'holy scripture.'
From Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 4 by Thomas Jefferson Randolph
He misstates it thus: "To such laws of the church as have warrant in holy scripture, our law giveth credence," and cites Prisot, mistranslating "ancien scripture" into holy scripture.
From The History Of The Last Trial By Jury For Atheism In England A Fragment of Autobiography Submitted for the Perusal of Her Majesty's Attorney-General and the British Clergy by George Jacob Holyoake
Mr. Harford has transferred much of Vasari's writing to his own pages, but has succeeded in translating or mistranslating all vitality out of it.
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 01, No. 04, February, 1858 by Various
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