mislead
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Etymology
From Middle English misleden, from Old English mislǣdan (“to mislead”), from Proto-Germanic *missalaidijaną (“to mislead”), equivalent to mis- + lead.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /mɪsˈliːd/
Audio (Southern England): (file) - Rhymes: -iːd
Verb
mislead (third-person singular simple present misleads, present participle misleading, simple past and past participle misled) (transitive)
- (literally) To lead astray, in a false direction.
- 2004, Green Day (lyrics and music), “Jesus of Suburbia”, in American Idiot:
- City of the dead / At the end of another lost highway / Signs misleading to nowhere
- To deceive by telling lies or otherwise giving a false impression.
- To deceptively trick into something wrong.
- The preacher elaborated Satan's ways to mislead us into sin
- To accidentally or intentionally confuse.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Derived terms
- misleader
- misleading (adjective)
Translations
lead in a false direction
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to deceive by lies or other false impression — see also deceive
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to deceptively trick into something wrong — see also trick
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Noun
mislead (countable and uncountable, plural misleads)
- A wrong or bad lead; a leading in the wrong direction.
- 1951, Improvement of Grading Practices for the Air Training, page 31:
- If all the misleads (incorrect alternatives) are illogical, absurd, or in any way unattractive as possible answers, the student has no difficulty in choosing the correct answer.
- (countable) That which is deceptive or untruthful (e.g. a falsehood, deception, untruth, or ruse).
- 2021, Aren Bjorgman, Frozen Ashes:
- The skinny body, a mislead to make people think that he was captured by someone and tortured. Even the loud gunshot was a mislead to make them ask questions to common citizens. His long untidy hair, also a mislead.
References
- “mislead”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
- “mislead”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
Anagrams
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