misquote
Americanverb (used with or without object)
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misquotes,
present (3rd person singular)
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misquoted,
past participle, past
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misquoting
present participle
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
misquotesimple
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misquotessimple
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have misquotedperfect
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has misquotedperfect
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am misquotingprogressive
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are misquotingprogressive
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is misquotingprogressive
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have been misquotingperfect progressive
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has been misquotingperfect progressive
Past
-
misquotedsimple
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had misquotedperfect
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was misquotingprogressive
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were misquotingprogressive
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had been misquotingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of misquote
Explanation
To misquote someone is to incorrectly repeat the words they've said. It's unethical for a journalist to deliberately misquote the subject of an interview. It's extremely common for people to misquote famous figures like Gandhi (who never literally said, "Be the change you wish to see in the world") and Machiavelli (who didn't exactly say, "The ends justify the means"). These examples can also be called misquotes. As with many words, Shakespeare is credited with being the first to use this combination of mis-, "wrong," and quote, "repeat or copy out exact words."
Vocabulary lists containing misquote
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:
At the Ivors, I accidentally misquote this back to him as "an unassailable guitar record".
From BBC ● May 22, 2025
And, to misquote a well-known Monty Python line, “no one ever expects a pandemic.”
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 16, 2024
Green doubled down, asserting that he went back and confirmed the misquote himself.
From Salon ● Feb. 6, 2024
“This is a misquote that disproves itself by propagating through the internet as Cunningham’s Law.”
From Slate ● Feb. 3, 2023
Facts are made in the image not of people, who misremember, misquote and misrepresent, but of books, immutable but mobile.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
But its existence also means there’s no excuses for misattribution or misquotes, which is surely part of its at least temporary revival.
From Salon ● Mar. 10, 2026
ChatGPT, Ms. Shackney said, sometimes incorrectly explains ideas and misquotes sources.
From New York Times ● Jan. 16, 2023
Speaking elegantly, he quotes — and misquotes — poets, scientists and former leaders, weaving fragments of history into his long monologues that lay out a dark and at times contradictory worldview.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 18, 2021
Listed between celebrity misquotes and political mishaps was a trend for an oversized cat along with an orangutan who got free from a zoo and wreaked havoc.
From The Verge ● Jan. 30, 2019
Mrs. Humphry Ward also twice misquotes the passage in "Lady Rose's Daughter."
From Ponkapog Papers by Thomas Bailey Aldrich
She famously bemoaned his birth in a cruel letter, which Okrent suggests Sondheim may have misquoted.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 17, 2026
He later tried to back-pedal, claiming he was misquoted, but the country's human rights body found his comments "hurtful and harmful".
From BBC ● Jan. 31, 2026
His opinion repeatedly misquoted key pieces of evidence to accuse officials of saying things that they did not.
From Slate ● Sep. 18, 2025
But Green denied doing so, claiming that the article misquoted him.
From Salon ● Feb. 6, 2024
She quoted Frost; she misquoted Stevens; she paraphrased Rilke's description of love.
From "How the García Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez
In any case, the Post did not fire Attiah for misquoting Kirk, although according to a CNN report that cited two staffers from the newspaper, “management also took issue” with the mistake.
From Salon ● Aug. 25, 2026
A US entertainment website has apologised to the "people of Shotts" and Caitriona Balfe after a misquoting the Outlander actress calling the town "an armpit".
From BBC ● May 23, 2026
Slightly misquoting Mark Twain, Mr. Carter posted on social media: “Rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated.”
From New York Times ● Apr. 23, 2024
“I would hope that they would continue to recognize the primary intent of the paper and be very meticulous about avoiding misquoting or mischaracterizing what that paper is for.”
From Scientific American ● Oct. 16, 2023
“I’m a fighter, not a lover,” he says, misquoting Michael Jackson.
From "The Sun Is Also a Star" by Nicola Yoon
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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.
