misguided

adjective

mis·​guid·​ed (ˌ)mis-ˈgī-dəd 

: led or prompted by wrong or inappropriate motives or ideals

well-meaning but misguided do-gooders

misguidedly

(ˌ)mis-ˈgī-dəd-lē 

adverb

misguidedness

(ˌ)mis-ˈgī-dəd-nəs 

noun

Examples of misguided in a Sentence

She's been getting a lot of bad advice from misguided friends.

He blames the crisis on the government's misguided economic policies.

a misguided attempt to help

Recent Examples on the Web

Yet the claim that our public-health mistakes can be pinned on some special force called groupthink is both unhelpful and misguided. —David Merritt Johns, The Atlantic, 2 Nov. 2025

Serving in the role of major domo in this misguided parade is none other than our chief executive. —U T Readers, San Diego Union-Tribune, 2 Nov. 2025

Lorelai Gilmore Autumn is prime Gilmore Girls season, and no outfit from the show is more iconic than Lorelai Gilmore's misguided outfit for Rory's first day at Chilton. —Jenni Fink, MSNBC Newsweek, 31 Oct. 2025

Immigration reform that targets the most productive and successful programs is misguided and devoid of economic sense. —Ben Zweig, Time, 23 Oct. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1500, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for misguided

• abided
• collided
• confided
• decided
• derided
• divided
• elided
• lopsided
• nitrided
• presided
• provided
• resided