misapprehend

verb

mis·​ap·​pre·​hend (ˌ)mis-ˌa-pri-ˈhend How to pronounce misapprehend (audio)
misapprehended; misapprehending; misapprehends

transitive verb

: to apprehend wrongly : misunderstand
misapprehension noun

Examples of misapprehend in a Sentence

unfortunately, the message that the artist was trying to convey has been misapprehended by many museum patrons
Recent Examples on the Web But would her students, turned on everywhere by the dogma of political correctness, misapprehend Haynes’s aim? Doreen St. Félix, The New Yorker, 22 June 2023 Some people misapprehend it and think of as imitation. New York Times, 17 Nov. 2021 But to call him a ‘man of the Right’ is to misapprehend his own words and actions. John Hirschauer, National Review, 25 Feb. 2020 Traditionally, that's led to things like snakes on stage and misapprehended awards speeches. Leah Prinzivalli, Allure, 20 Aug. 2018 This isn’t just shooting your mouth off on the stump—this is the nation’s top lawyer completely misapprehending what judges do and what states are. Dahlia Lithwick, Slate Magazine, 20 Apr. 2017 Yet by the same logic, giving Washington and Jefferson a pass for being slaveholders misapprehends a moral problem embedded in our nation at its conception. Ron Grossman, chicagotribune.com, 25 Aug. 2017 This is a silly parlor game that misapprehends James’s gifts, which have never been those of a pure scorer. Michael Powell, New York Times, 10 June 2017

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'misapprehend.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1628, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of misapprehend was in 1628

Dictionary Entries Near misapprehend

Cite this Entry

“Misapprehend.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/misapprehend. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

misapprehend

verb
mis·​ap·​pre·​hend (ˌ)mis-ˌap-ri-ˈhend How to pronounce misapprehend (audio)
misapprehension noun

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