- present participle of misunderstand.
misunderstanding
Americannoun
-
misunderstandings
plural
-
failure to understand correctly; mistake as to meaning or intent.
- Synonyms:
- misconception, error, misapprehension
-
a disagreement or quarrel.
- Synonyms:
- dissension, difficulty, difference, discord
- Antonyms:
- concord
noun
-
a failure to understand properly
-
a disagreement
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of misunderstanding
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English; mis- 1 + understanding
Explanation
A misunderstanding is what happens when you don't comprehend something correctly. It's also another name for a disagreement, like the misunderstanding you and your sister had about whose turn it was to do the dishes. The result of not clearly understanding someone or something is a misunderstanding. A misunderstanding between teammates can lead to dropped passes and lost points, and a misunderstanding of the pool rules can get you benched for doing a cannonball in the shallow end. You can also call a minor argument a misunderstanding.
Vocabulary lists containing misunderstanding
myPerspectives 8.3
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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:
Unlike the incident involving OpenAI's technology, Anthropic's models had access to the internet "due to a misunderstanding between us and our evaluation partner," called Irregular, Anthropic said in a blog post.
From Barron's ● Jul. 31, 2026
“From that point of view, it becomes a more serious story, and it goes beyond misunderstanding to something more worrying.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026
To some, it may feel like Araki is flattening complex social mores and misunderstanding the anxieties behind this era of semi-celibacy.
From Salon ● Jul. 31, 2026
A pair of diners who left a restaurant without paying a £115 bill - which included a £52 Dover sole - have said it was a "misunderstanding", its owner has said.
From BBC ● Jul. 7, 2026
And I learned that “Shorty, can I see your bike?” was never a sincere question, and “Yo, you was messing with my cousin” was neither an earnest accusation nor a misunderstanding of the facts.
From "Between the World and Me" by Ta-Nehisi Coates
The Palantir board strongly urged shareholders to vote down the proposals, saying they were “predicated on misunderstandings and inaccuracies about Palantir’s work.”
From Barron's ● Jun. 12, 2026
But there are insights about his perception of—and plans for—America to be gained from examining those misunderstandings.
From Slate ● Jun. 11, 2026
Waltzes continue to pepper the score throughout the tragic misunderstandings of the second act.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 13, 2026
One of the most common misunderstandings about tariffs is who pays them.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 20, 2026
To avoid future misunderstandings, however, CBS programs would no longer use “a simulated news broadcast within a dramatization” that could confuse listeners.
From "Spooked!" by Gail Jarrow
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.
