as in to misunderstand
to fail to understand the true or actual meaning of unfortunately, the message that the artist was trying to convey has been misapprehended by many museum patrons

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of misapprehend But would her students, turned on everywhere by the dogma of political correctness, misapprehend Haynes’s aim? Doreen St. Félix, The New Yorker, 22 June 2023 Some people misapprehend it and think of as imitation. New York Times, 17 Nov. 2021 But to call him a ‘man of the Right’ is to misapprehend his own words and actions. John Hirschauer, National Review, 25 Feb. 2020 Traditionally, that's led to things like snakes on stage and misapprehended awards speeches. Leah Prinzivalli, Allure, 20 Aug. 2018 Yet by the same logic, giving Washington and Jefferson a pass for being slaveholders misapprehends a moral problem embedded in our nation at its conception. Ron Grossman, chicagotribune.com, 25 Aug. 2017 This isn’t just shooting your mouth off on the stump—this is the nation’s top lawyer completely misapprehending what judges do and what states are. Dahlia Lithwick, Slate Magazine, 20 Apr. 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for misapprehend
misunderstand
Verb
  • The same kind of misunderstanding speckles the discourse around Live Laugh Love, his stellar new album.
    Andre Gee, Rolling Stone, 29 Aug. 2025
  • Borrowers who face wage garnishment are entitled to a 30-day notice before garnishment begins, but many people miss or misunderstand those communications.
    Sydney Lake, Fortune, 29 Aug. 2025

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Misapprehend.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/misapprehend. Accessed 8 Sep. 2025.

More from Merriam-Webster on misapprehend

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!