mislabel

verb

mis·​la·​bel ˌmis-ˈlā-bəl How to pronounce mislabel (audio)
mislabeled or mislabelled; mislabeling or mislabelling

transitive verb

: to label (something) incorrectly or falsely
DNA tests on seafood in Texas and elsewhere have showed that seafood at markets and restaurants is mislabeled roughly one-third of the time.Bill Lambrecht

Examples of mislabel in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Others in the community worry that such a focus has led law enforcement to mislabel young people as gang members. Rachel Spacek, Idaho Statesman, 25 Jan. 2024 In the lawsuit targeting McClain-Hill, one employee alleged that DWP staff and a DWP contractor worked together to purposely mislabel an invoice sent to the utility so McClain-Hill could receive free food and beverages at an April conference in Beverly Hills hosted by the contractor. Dakota Smith, Los Angeles Times, 9 Jan. 2024 And the companies that make the precursors routinely use fake return addresses and mislabel the products in order to avoid being caught by law enforcement. Fatima Hussein, Fortune, 4 Oct. 2023 But according to a recent paper by three academics, Lauren Cohen, Umit Gurun and N. Bugra Ozel, many companies provide salaries just above the federal cutoff to frontline workers and mislabel them as managers to deny them overtime. Noam Scheiber, New York Times, 6 Mar. 2023 Brands often mislabel their sheets as Egyptian cotton, but recent strides in DNA testing and third-party verification have helped correct this. Grace Wu, Good Housekeeping, 24 Jan. 2023 Investigators will also point to other violations of customs law, such as when smugglers mislabel an item on shipping forms. Graham Bowley, New York Times, 13 Dec. 2022 There were exceptions, but Gmail will sometimes mislabel a safe email as potentially suspicious by mistake. Gordon Kelly, Forbes, 12 July 2022 People often mislabel rip currents as undertows or rip tides. Chloe Williams, The Atlantic, 20 June 2022

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'mislabel.' 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

1835, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of mislabel was in 1835

Dictionary Entries Near mislabel

Cite this Entry

“Mislabel.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mislabel. Accessed 23 Apr. 2024.

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