misinterpret

1 to change so much as to create a wrong impression or alter the meaning of his note on this passage in the novel seriously misinterprets the author's meaning Synonyms bend, color, cook, distort, falsify, fudge, garble, misrelate, misrepresent, misstate, pervert, slant, twist, warpRelated Words misdescribe, misspeak, mistranslate; belie, camouflage, disguise, dissemble, gloss (over), mask, veil, whitewash; bowdlerize, censor; complicate, confound, confuse, mistake, mix (up); mystify, obscure; equivocate, fib, lie, palter, prevaricateNear Antonyms clarify, clear (up), explain, illuminate, illustrate, interpret, spell out; decipher

2 to fail to understand the true or actual meaning of we misinterpreted the directions and ended up on the wrong side of town Synonyms misapprehend, misconstrue, misunderstand, misknow, misperceive, misread, miss, mistakeRelated Words misconceive, misdeem, misjudge; mishearAntonyms appreciate, apprehend, catch, comprehend, conceive, fathom, get, grasp, grok, know, make out, penetrate, perceive, savvy, see, seize, take in, understand