misdirect

verb

mis·​di·​rect ˌmis-də-ˈrekt 

-(ˌ)dī-

misdirected; misdirecting; misdirects

transitive verb

1

: to give a wrong direction to

2

: to direct wrongly

misdirected their energies

Examples of misdirect in a Sentence

Their mail was misdirected to our address.

If he tells you he's not interested, he's trying to misdirect you.

Recent Examples on the Web

The whole concept that a cop would purposefully misdirect an entire town and her family about where a girl died because something looked vaguely weird about the boys on the boat with her is absurd, and again, there was proof of that anyway, which everyone seemed content to ignore. —Paul Tassi, Forbes.com, 13 June 2025

Seek clarification in cases where recognition is misdirected. —Barbara A. Perry, Newsweek, 28 Jan. 2025

This sounds like a possible link to spy craft or missile warning, but there's a chance Chinese officials approved the patches to misdirect outside observers, or there's no connection at all. —ArsTechnica, 23 May 2025

The capacity to misdirect, in Biden’s case, or mislead, as happened under Trump, illustrates one of the magical features of the White House: the ability of a president to conceal himself in plain sight. —Mark Z. Barabak, Los Angeles Times, 21 May 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1603, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for misdirect

• architect
• circumspect
• deselect
• dialect
• disconnect
• disinfect
• disrespect
• incorrect
• indirect
• intellect
• interject
• intersect

Kids Definition

misdirect

verb

mis·​di·​rect ˌmis-də-ˈrekt 

-(ˌ)dī-

: to direct incorrectly

misdirection

-ˈrek-shən

noun