as in to misstate
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Recent Examples of misspeak
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
People are just supposed to like you — you’re not supposed to misspeak, look fat, date the wrong person, have your makeup look a different color.
—Elias Leight, Rolling Stone, 12 Feb. 2022
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
People are just supposed to like you — you’re not supposed to misspeak, look fat, date the wrong person, have your makeup look a different color.
—Elias Leight, Rolling Stone, 12 Feb. 2022
Recent Examples of Synonyms for misspeak
Verb
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An earlier version of the subheadline of this story previously misstated which seasons of Law & Order are currently available on the FAST channel.—
Rick Porter,
HollywoodReporter,
9 Sep. 2025
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An earlier version of this column misstated the guidelines for special government employees.—
Ben Smith,
semafor.com,
8 Sep. 2025
Verb
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The seemingly unassuming coming-of-ager – a sunny portrait of happy high-school adolescence in Seoul – builds in complexity as a vision of livewire student’s Joo-in’s courage and resilience in the face of trauma, unknown and then misinterpreted by her equally young classmates.—
John Hopewell,
Variety,
6 Sep. 2025
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Others gave unclear answers that could be misinterpreted if one isn’t well-versed in state law, which as Andrade and Scott pointed out, gives pretty broad exemptions for parents who want to opt their children out of drug immunization.—
Alexandra Glorioso,
Miami Herald,
4 Sep. 2025
Verb
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The group of climate scientists found several examples where the DOE authors cherry-picked or misrepresented climate science in the agency's report.—
Julia Simon,
NPR,
2 Sep. 2025
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This statement fundamentally misrepresents how research is done.—
Brendan Harley,
Chicago Tribune,
2 Sep. 2025
Verb
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In a world where images are so numerous and so difficult to understand, truth itself can be in danger, threatened by false interpretations and distorted, misleading half-truths.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
3 Sep. 2025
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Executives may tone down accomplishments to avoid internal friction, which can distort messaging.—
Adrian Dearnell,
Forbes.com,
3 Sep. 2025
Verb
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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
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SecNav’s just a big fan, and that message got garbled in a chain-of-command game of telephone.—
Sara Netzley,
EW.com,
11 Feb. 2025
Verb
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He was indicted without detention on the charges of perjury and falsifying documents to the benefit of Yoon amid the national upheaval.—
Timothy Nerozzi,
The Washington Examiner,
29 Aug. 2025
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Yang was terminated from Milwaukee Tool three days earlier after the company learned Yang had been falsifying records by creating work orders for the delivery of Milwaukee Tool products.—
Adrienne Davis,
jsonline.com,
29 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Stir in pecans and cook, stirring often, until nuts are toasted and butter is browned, 5 to 7 minutes.—
Kimberly Holland,
Southern Living,
8 Sep. 2025
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Try Malpeque, for a signature meal cooked on an open-flame grill, where each dish incorporates an element of smoke, char or fire and the sunsets are spectacular.—
Sherrie Nachman,
Forbes.com,
7 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Among the interested parties were shipbreakers planning to dissemble the vessel for scrap metal, according to Saw.—
Oscar Holland,
CNN Money,
21 Aug. 2025
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Authorities were forced to dissemble the back deck in order to rescue some of the pups that were beneath, according to the Strong Island Animal Rescue League, who assisted with the efforts.—
David Matthews,
New York Daily News,
7 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Misspeak.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/misspeak. Accessed 10 Sep. 2025.
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