as in deceptive
tending or having power to deceive
the misleading text of the advertisement would like you to believe that you're getting something for nothing
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in deceiving
to cause to believe what is untrue
the coral snake's attractive colors can mislead you into thinking that it is harmless
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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Recent Examples of misleading
Rogé Karma, The Atlantic, 7 Jan. 2026
For its misleading omissions, the Times story deserves a flunking grade.
—Orlando Sentinel, The Orlando Sentinel, 7 Jan. 2026
Similar false or misleading content has circulated during the Israeli-Palestine and Russia-Ukraine conflicts.
—Dylan Butts, CNBC, 6 Jan. 2026
The appellate court ruled that the inaccurate testimony was materially misleading and could have influenced the jury’s decision, violating Andrea Yates’ right to a fair trial.
—Isabella Wandermurem, Time, 6 Jan. 2026
But in others, the appearance of motion is a misleading holdover from classical physics, and there is no intuitive way to picture what’s happening.
—George Musser, Quanta Magazine, 5 Jan. 2026
Uthmeier’s office and the business groups contend the proposal is misleading because of an issue about where smoking and vaping marijuana would be barred.
—Jim Saunders, Sun Sentinel, 5 Jan. 2026
While 47% have used AI to build itineraries, one-third reported receiving false or misleading information.
—Christopher Elliott, USA Today, 5 Jan. 2026
Per the civil suit, the FTC accused Amazon and several of its executives of deliberately misleading millions of consumers into signing up for Prime, in violation of both the FTC Act and the Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act (ROSCA).
—Marley Malenfant, Austin American Statesman, 5 Jan. 2026
Kayla Hayempour, NBC news, 4 Jan. 2026
Crowds of people apparently duped by misleading social media posts braved the cold for a New Year’s Eve fireworks show at New York’s Brooklyn Bridge.
—Marc Ramirez, USA Today, 2 Jan. 2026
Claims of misleading conduct The lawsuit also accuses Meta of providing inaccurate descriptions of its safety practices.
—Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 31 Dec. 2025
California’s Department of Motor Vehicles recently accused Tesla of misleading consumers about the capabilities of its self-driving technology, a claim the company has disputed.
—Karoline Leonard, Austin American Statesman, 31 Dec. 2025
Suits have accused the chains of hiring doctors who lacked adequate training or had troubled pasts, and of using high-pressure sales tactics and misleading advertising pitches that downplay safety risks, court records show.
—Fred Schulte, Miami Herald, 30 Dec. 2025
The injunction bans any public school employee from misleading parents about their child’s gender presentation at school, such as by using different pronouns or names with a parent than the student uses at school.
—Kristen Taketa, San Diego Union-Tribune, 24 Dec. 2025
Tomer-Yerushalmi is also suspected of allegedly misleading the High Court of Justice, and senior military and justice officials, about the leak of the footage and even submitting a false affidavit to the court.
—Tal Shalev, CNN Money, 4 Nov. 2025
Yet the nonprofit appears to be concealing this from visitors to its website, where a search function, the only nontechnical tool for seeing what’s in Common Crawl’s archives, returns misleading results for certain domains.
—Alex Reisner, The Atlantic, 4 Nov. 2025
Adjective
Experts immediately pointed out that Hassett had used a misleading method known as a cubic fit to make the mortality data appear less frightening.
—Rogé Karma, The Atlantic, 7 Jan. 2026
For its misleading omissions, the Times story deserves a flunking grade.
—Orlando Sentinel, The Orlando Sentinel, 7 Jan. 2026
Similar false or misleading content has circulated during the Israeli-Palestine and Russia-Ukraine conflicts.
—Dylan Butts, CNBC, 6 Jan. 2026
The appellate court ruled that the inaccurate testimony was materially misleading and could have influenced the jury’s decision, violating Andrea Yates’ right to a fair trial.
—Isabella Wandermurem, Time, 6 Jan. 2026
But in others, the appearance of motion is a misleading holdover from classical physics, and there is no intuitive way to picture what’s happening.
—George Musser, Quanta Magazine, 5 Jan. 2026
Uthmeier’s office and the business groups contend the proposal is misleading because of an issue about where smoking and vaping marijuana would be barred.
—Jim Saunders, Sun Sentinel, 5 Jan. 2026
While 47% have used AI to build itineraries, one-third reported receiving false or misleading information.
—Christopher Elliott, USA Today, 5 Jan. 2026
Per the civil suit, the FTC accused Amazon and several of its executives of deliberately misleading millions of consumers into signing up for Prime, in violation of both the FTC Act and the Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act (ROSCA).
—Marley Malenfant, Austin American Statesman, 5 Jan. 2026
Verb
But as Alaska’s state courts have discovered, an inaccurate or misleading artificial intelligence chatbot can easily make matters worse.
—Kayla Hayempour, NBC news, 4 Jan. 2026
Crowds of people apparently duped by misleading social media posts braved the cold for a New Year’s Eve fireworks show at New York’s Brooklyn Bridge.
—Marc Ramirez, USA Today, 2 Jan. 2026
Claims of misleading conduct The lawsuit also accuses Meta of providing inaccurate descriptions of its safety practices.
—Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 31 Dec. 2025
California’s Department of Motor Vehicles recently accused Tesla of misleading consumers about the capabilities of its self-driving technology, a claim the company has disputed.
—Karoline Leonard, Austin American Statesman, 31 Dec. 2025
Suits have accused the chains of hiring doctors who lacked adequate training or had troubled pasts, and of using high-pressure sales tactics and misleading advertising pitches that downplay safety risks, court records show.
—Fred Schulte, Miami Herald, 30 Dec. 2025
The injunction bans any public school employee from misleading parents about their child’s gender presentation at school, such as by using different pronouns or names with a parent than the student uses at school.
—Kristen Taketa, San Diego Union-Tribune, 24 Dec. 2025
Tomer-Yerushalmi is also suspected of allegedly misleading the High Court of Justice, and senior military and justice officials, about the leak of the footage and even submitting a false affidavit to the court.
—Tal Shalev, CNN Money, 4 Nov. 2025
Yet the nonprofit appears to be concealing this from visitors to its website, where a search function, the only nontechnical tool for seeing what’s in Common Crawl’s archives, returns misleading results for certain domains.
—Alex Reisner, The Atlantic, 4 Nov. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for misleading
Adjective
-
While not everyone gets their wishes, those with no interest in taking on the deceptive — and challenging — role of a Traitor likely won't be chosen.—
Jordana Comiter,
PEOPLE,
9 Jan. 2026
-
The legal claims included negligence, wrongful death, deceptive trade practices, and product liability.—
Beatrice Nolan,
Fortune,
8 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
Relying Too Much On Garbage Disposals Though the name may be deceiving, garbage disposals aren’t actually designed to dispose of all garbage.—
Quincy Bulin,
Southern Living,
3 Jan. 2026
-
That level of eye-deceiving detail falters in wide shots, however, some of which suffer from unflattering flat lighting that in certain instances recall computer screensavers of yore, given their colorful artificiality.—
Carlos Aguilar,
Variety,
30 Dec. 2025
Adjective
-
The title-winning standard has been lower in recent years; City won it with 86, 93, 89 and 91 points between 2020-21 and 2023-24 and Liverpool with 84 points last season, but some of those totals give a false impression.—
Oliver Kay,
New York Times,
8 Nov. 2025
-
The month prior, she was sentenced to one year and nine months in prison for using marijuana while owning a firearm and making false statements about drug use, per the newspaper.—
Christopher Rudolph,
PEOPLE,
8 Nov. 2025
Verb
-
Ukraine orchestrated a fake hit on one of Russia's enemies who has fought alongside Ukrainian forces, tricking the Kremlin into paying out a $500,000 bounty Kyiv used to fund its war effort.—
Louis Casiano,
FOXNews.com,
2 Jan. 2026
-
To pull off his human heist, Mendez must develop and try to sell a Star Wars-esque sci-fi film, in the hopes of tricking the Iranians into believing the American hostages are part of a Canadian film crew.—
Declan Gallagher,
Entertainment Weekly,
26 Dec. 2025
Verb
-
Early reports indicate that kids are fooling the age-recognition software with sophisticated techniques such as drawing on facial hair and substituting celebrity photos for their own.—
Jay Caspian Kang,
New Yorker,
23 Dec. 2025
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Anyone who thinks that this is an issue that could have been solved by nominating a couple more Spider-Man movies is fooling themselves.—
Nate Jones,
Vulture,
19 Dec. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Misleading.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/misleading. Accessed 11 Jan. 2026.
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