as in to misstate
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Recent Examples of misspeak
However, today, the bigger risk is not misspeaking.
—
Cheryl Robinson, Forbes.com, 12 Feb. 2026
The health secretary also appeared to misspeak at the meeting, saying two people had died of the disease.
—Devi Shastri and Amanda Seitz The Associated Press, arkansasonline.com, 27 Feb. 2025
Kennedy also seemed to misspeak in saying two people had died of measles.
—Amanda Seitz, Chicago Tribune, 26 Feb. 2025
These leaders don’t merely lie or misspeak or make light of life and death.
—Megan Garber, The Atlantic, 23 Oct. 2024
Walz was criticized following the Oct. 1 debate for flubbing an answer about allegedly misspeaking about being in Hong Kong during the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.
—Joey Nolfi, EW.com, 21 Oct. 2024
The Kremlin’s propaganda often uses instances of Biden misspeaking as proof of his ineptitude as the man in charge of Ukraine’s top military backer.
—Yuliya Talmazan, NBC News, 12 July 2024
Elsewhere, Claude and Angot’s mother, who had Christine out of wedlock and fought to get her father to recognize his child in a legal sense, are both similarly upbraided for misspeaking about Christine’s trauma in subtle ways, or for not being sympathetic in the right way.
—Leslie Felperin, The Hollywood Reporter, 22 Feb. 2024
Cheryl Robinson, Forbes.com, 12 Feb. 2026
The health secretary also appeared to misspeak at the meeting, saying two people had died of the disease.
—Devi Shastri and Amanda Seitz The Associated Press, arkansasonline.com, 27 Feb. 2025
Kennedy also seemed to misspeak in saying two people had died of measles.
—Amanda Seitz, Chicago Tribune, 26 Feb. 2025
These leaders don’t merely lie or misspeak or make light of life and death.
—Megan Garber, The Atlantic, 23 Oct. 2024
Walz was criticized following the Oct. 1 debate for flubbing an answer about allegedly misspeaking about being in Hong Kong during the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.
—Joey Nolfi, EW.com, 21 Oct. 2024
The Kremlin’s propaganda often uses instances of Biden misspeaking as proof of his ineptitude as the man in charge of Ukraine’s top military backer.
—Yuliya Talmazan, NBC News, 12 July 2024
Elsewhere, Claude and Angot’s mother, who had Christine out of wedlock and fought to get her father to recognize his child in a legal sense, are both similarly upbraided for misspeaking about Christine’s trauma in subtle ways, or for not being sympathetic in the right way.
—Leslie Felperin, The Hollywood Reporter, 22 Feb. 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for misspeak
Verb
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An earlier version misstated the name of the organization.—
Emily Wilkins,
CNBC,
9 Apr. 2026
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An earlier version of this story misstated Dubai’s hotel occupancy rate in March in the fourth paragraph.—
Manal Albarakati,
semafor.com,
7 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Chapman, in particular, noted people may have misinterpreted what Vitello said.—
Justice delos Santos,
Mercury News,
9 Apr. 2026
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Justice Department lawyers argued that Boasberg set too high a standard for prosecutors to meet at the early stages of an investigation and misinterpreted the timeline of the probe.—
Andrew Goudsward,
USA Today,
3 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Ramsey’s attorneys said there are gaps in the case prosecutors presented to the grand jury, including by misrepresenting what the witness reported in the 911 call, and attorney Alfredo Parrish said the grand jury even pushed back.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
10 Apr. 2026
-
Lawmakers from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party said Cheng has misrepresented Taiwanese public opinion in her trip to China and accused the KMT of undermining national security.—
Anniek Bao,
CNBC,
10 Apr. 2026
Verb
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For Wagner specifically, time feels distorted.—
Jason Beede,
The Orlando Sentinel,
8 Apr. 2026
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Obadia sees the Optimus question as evidence of how the racial framing itself distorts perception.—
Deni Ellis Béchard,
Scientific American,
8 Apr. 2026
Verb
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In announcing them, Trump grew so loud that the audio feed spiked in a way that left his words garbled.—
Philip Elliott,
Time,
25 Feb. 2026
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The Limits of Expansion Since mathematicians began studying expander graphs in the 1960s, they’ve been used to model the brain (opens a new tab), perform statistical analyses, and build error-correcting codes — encrypted messages that can be read even if they get garbled in transmission.—
Leila Sloman,
Quanta Magazine,
18 Apr. 2025
Verb
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In his ruling on post-trial motions, Shah tossed the underlying bribery counts due to the Supreme Court’s decision in Snyder, but kept intact the main conspiracy count as well as guilty verdicts for falsifying ComEd’s books and records, which were charged under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.—
Jason Meisner,
Chicago Tribune,
14 Apr. 2026
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The legislation follows a Hearst investigation that found that 10 school systems in the state were employing armed security guards who falsified traffic citations, failed to report deadly pursuits or engaged in racial misconduct.—
Livi Stanford,
Hartford Courant,
9 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Chicken is beloved for being nutrient-packed, easy to cook, and an excellent source of lean protein.—
Phoebe Evans,
Southern Living,
13 Apr. 2026
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Continue rolling and cooking the tortillas in batches, making sure to return the oil to 350 degrees between batches.—
Carole Kotkin,
Miami Herald,
13 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Nor have the Trumps dissembled about Amazon’s payment of forty million dollars for the rights to the film—more than twice as much as the second-highest bid—with twenty-eight million reportedly flowing directly to the First Lady.—
David D. Kirkpatrick,
New Yorker,
8 Feb. 2026
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With his multi-instrumentalist bandmates, PJ Moore and co-songwriter Robert Bell, Buchanan zooms into these exchanges to prolong them or dissembles them into jagged pieces that leave the bigger picture to us.—
Sam Sodomsky,
Pitchfork,
1 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Misspeak.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/misspeak. Accessed 15 Apr. 2026.
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