misinterpret

verb

mis·in·ter·pret | \ ˌmi-sᵊn-ˈtər-prət

, -pət\

misinterpreted; misinterpreting; misinterprets

Definition of misinterpret

transitive verb

1 : to explain wrongly His comment on the speech misinterprets the speaker's meaning.

2 : to understand wrongly Her silence should not be misinterpreted as consent.

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Examples of misinterpret in a Sentence

He claims that his statements have been misinterpreted by the media. Her silence should not be misinterpreted as consent.

Recent Examples on the Web

For instance, if somebody has the wrong ride-share app downloaded when people are splitting a trip, will that be misinterpreted as being miserly? — Kevin Mcallister, WSJ, "The Confusing World of Venmo Etiquette," 10 Feb. 2019 Self-driving car sensors have been known to misinterpret steam, car exhaust, or scraps of cardboard as obstacles akin to concrete medians. — Aarian Marshall, WIRED, "False Positives: Self-Driving Cars and the Agony of Knowing What Matters," 29 May 2018 And besides, people constantly misinterpret one another's intentions—which has proved a real obstacle for designers seeking universal meaning. — Tim Heffernan, Popular Mechanics, "Finland's Crazy Plan to Make Nuclear Waste Disappear," 10 May 2012 Additionally, the research found particular words that Alexa misinterpreted for particular dialects and genders—meaning that these words could potentially be used to target attacks against a specific demographic. — Sean Gallagher, Ars Technica, "Researchers show Alexa “skill squatting” could hijack voice commands," 30 Aug. 2018 Having said that, people are misinterpreting the Minnesota Law Review article. — Jen Kirby, Vox, "7 legal experts on how Kavanaugh views executive power — and what it could mean for Mueller," 11 July 2018 Caterpillar later said it had been misinterpreted, and expects the momentum to continue. — Doug Cameron, WSJ, "Costs Are Crashing the Party for Manufacturers," 22 July 2018 Out of the 188 words, the test identified 27 (14 percent) that would reliably be misinterpreted by Alexa as another word. — Sean Gallagher, Ars Technica, "Researchers show Alexa “skill squatting” could hijack voice commands," 30 Aug. 2018 Incorrect angle-of-attack data can result in faulty airspeed displays, false stall warnings and other problems that could be misinterpreted by pilots. — Andrew Tangel, WSJ, "FAA Launches Review of Boeing’s Safety Analyses," 13 Nov. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'misinterpret.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.