mislead

verb

mis·​lead ˌmis-ˈlēd 

misled ˌmis-ˈled  ; misleading

transitive verb

: to lead in a wrong direction or into a mistaken action or belief often by deliberate deceit

His comments were a deliberate attempt to mislead the public.

intransitive verb

: to lead astray : give a wrong impression

exciting as they are, they mislead

—E. M. Forster

misleader noun

misleadingly

ˌmis-ˈlē-diŋ-lē 

adverb

Synonyms

• bamboozle
• beguile
• bluff
• buffalo
• burn
• catch
• con
• cozen
• deceive
• delude
• dupe
• fake out
• fool
• gaff
• gammon
• gull
• have
• have on [chiefly British]
• hoax
• hoodwink
• hornswoggle
• humbug
• juggle
• misguide
• misinform
• snooker
• snow
• spoof
• string along
• suck in
• sucker
• take in
• trick

Choose the Right Synonym for mislead

deceive, mislead, delude, beguile mean to lead astray or frustrate usually by underhandedness.

deceive implies imposing a false idea or belief that causes ignorance, bewilderment, or helplessness.

tried to deceive me about the cost

mislead implies a leading astray that may or may not be intentional.

I was misled by the confusing sign

delude implies deceiving so thoroughly as to obscure the truth.

we were deluded into thinking we were safe

beguile stresses the use of charm and persuasion in deceiving.

was beguiled by false promises

Examples of mislead in a Sentence

We believe that her comments were deliberately meant to mislead the public.

We believe that her comments were deliberately meant to mislead.

Recent Examples on the Web

As a result, readers of the second-generation post are misled, which is what happened here. —Joedy McCreary, USA TODAY, 12 Apr. 2024

Ahead of the meeting, Kolb accused Marshall of intentionally misleading the community in tweets about a community meeting that was slated for Thursday. —Krista Johnson, The Courier-Journal, 11 Apr. 2024

However, Mizuhara allegedly misled Ohtani's U.S.-based financial advisers into believing the MLB player had denied them access to the account. —Natasha Dye, Peoplemag, 11 Apr. 2024

While OpenAI policies addressing misleading others and intentional deception arguably cover some, or all, such content, specifically naming these categories as being barred from creation and spread would give more clarity to users and protection to voters. —Mekela Panditharatne, TIME, 10 Apr. 2024

It’s been used to mislead and harass people and to spread propaganda. —Shira Ovide, Washington Post, 9 Apr. 2024

Most notably for our industry, the rule prohibits misleading marketing practices and strengthens the role of plans in monitoring agent and broker activity. —Robert W. Bache, Forbes, 28 Mar. 2024

The $454 million judgment reflected the interest payments Mr. Trump saved by misleading his lenders, as well as profits from the recent sale of two properties. —William K. Rashbaum, New York Times, 25 Mar. 2024

The suit also claimed that Wells Fargo concealed overcharges, which were not discovered until 2022 when the bank sent misleading correspondence and payment checks to some military families. —Chase Jordan, Charlotte Observer, 25 Mar. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense

Kids Definition

mislead

verb

mis·​lead (ˈ)mis-ˈlēd 

misled -ˈled  ; misleading

: to lead in a wrong direction or into a mistaken action or belief

misleading adjective

Legal Definition

mislead

verb

mis·​lead mis-ˈlēd 

misled -ˈled  ; misleading

transitive verb

: to lead into a mistaken action or belief : to cause to have a false impression

intransitive verb

: to create a false impression compare deceive