misinterpret

B2 Topic:Mind & Cognition
US /ˌmɪs.ɪnˈtɝː.prət/ UK /ˌmɪs.ɪnˈtɜː.prət/
verb Freq #39041

Meanings

  1. 1
    verb

    to understand, explain, or judge the meaning of something incorrectly

    Do not misinterpret her silence as agreement with the proposal.

Thesaurus

Synonyms
1 verb · to understand, explain, or... misconstruemisreadmisunderstand
More mistake
Opposites
Word family
Forms misinterpreted
Derived forms misinterpretedmisinterpretingmisinterpretation
Related forms interpretmisconceptionmisconstruction

Etymology

Formed in English from mis- ("wrongly") + interpret, which came through Old French and Latin interpretari ("explain, translate, understand"). The compound therefore means to assign the wrong explanation or meaning.

Topics

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