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

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 Previous employers had occasionally misinterpreted his skill as laziness and accused him of not having logged sufficient time with the mop. — Eric Johnson, Recode, "Google’s former PR boss Jessica Powell wrote a satirical novel about tech and published it all on Medium," 2 Oct. 2018 Reproductive rights advocates have argued Kavanaugh misinterpreted that rule, however. — Lauren Holter, Teen Vogue, "Why Brett Kavanaugh's Comment About Birth Control Is So Worrisome," 7 Sep. 2018 In response to the criticism, Netflix’s original series vice-president Cindy Holland said the message of the show was misinterpreted, according to ABC News. — Ellen Ricks, Teen Vogue, "Watching Netflix's Insatiable as an Eating Disorder Survivor Triggered Me," 17 Aug. 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.