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
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
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
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
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 misstated his status.—
Kevin Breuninger,
CNBC,
11 Mar. 2025
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Due to the writer’s error, an earlier version of this story misstated and Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association’s position on greenhouse gas emissions standards.—
Allen Best,
The Denver Post,
10 Mar. 2025
Verb
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Somehow, some way, both FOX Sports and Yahoo Sports misinterpreted Morosi and in the minutes that followed, both sent off posts of their own citing the reporter claiming that the Twins had dealt Ryan to the Red Sox.—
Betsy Helfand,
Twin Cities,
4 Aug. 2025
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And law enforcement officials could easily misinterpret data showing that, for example, someone’s Christmas lights flick on at the same time every night, as an indication of light and climate control equipment for a pot grow, Schwartz said.—
Sacbee.com,
Sacbee.com,
4 Aug. 2025
Verb
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In the letter, Rush claimed past service as a crew member on Titan and misrepresented the size of the vessel, when in fact it had never been registered or admeasured.—
Patrick Whittle,
Chicago Tribune,
5 Aug. 2025
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And several climate scientists whose work is cited in the D.O.E. report have said that their conclusions are misrepresented.—
Elizabeth Kolbert,
New Yorker,
4 Aug. 2025
Verb
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In The Harvard Gazette, psychiatrist Mark Epstein explained how the ego distorts reality by tying us to fear and desire, which clouds our ability to truly see what’s happening.—
Wilson Luna,
Forbes.com,
14 Aug. 2025
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Last week, a user was even able to prompt it to deliver a profane rant against Musk and others for trying distort the reality of the Israel-Hamas war.—
Miles Klee,
Rolling Stone,
11 Aug. 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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Data-poisoning tools like Nightshade, which can garble some AI outputs, may be a more effective solution for concerned artists.—
Kate Irwin,
PCMAG,
8 Oct. 2024
Verb
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Dumas’ role in the gun-trafficking portion of the conspiracy, before he was kicked out of the Army, was to falsify entries in the property book accounting system to keep anyone from noticing the disappearing items.—
Seth Harp,
Rolling Stone,
28 July 2025
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In exchange, prosecutors dropped charges of falsifying medical records and additional counts of distribution.—
Gene Maddaus,
Variety,
23 July 2025
Verb
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This collection is perfect for anything from pressure cooking eggs to baking and they are made to fit both 6- and 8-quart sizes.—
BestReviews,
Mercury News,
7 Aug. 2025
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Ready to cook in a few short minutes, add a side for a quick meal the whole family will enjoy.—
Jenna Sims,
Southern Living,
7 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Building trust in companies and their leaders isn’t easy, given many decades of dissembling.—
Steve Denning,
Forbes.com,
6 July 2025
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You’d like your government to tell you the truth, and the government dissembled repeatedly after the raid about what the rules of engagement were.—
Aryeh Neier,
The New York Review of Books,
3 Mar. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Misspeak.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/misspeak. Accessed 21 Aug. 2025.
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