misconstrue
verb
mis·con·strue
ˌmis-kən-ˈstrü 
misconstrued; misconstruing
1
: to interpret (something, such as a statement or action) wrongly : misinterpret
misconstrued her words/meaning/silence
He does not want his real name used in the newspaper because even the most innocent statement could be misconstrued here and lead to trouble, he says.—
Lynne Duke
Lynne DukeI instantly turned away, lest he should see and misconstrue my emotion.—Anne Brontë
Anne Brontë2
: to misinterpret the meaning, intention, or character of (someone)
… it is the post-Vietnam revisionists who have most ironically misconstrued [Herman] Melville.—Frederick Crews
Frederick Crews… a sad sack whom no one would misconstrue as charming.—Karen Karbo
Karen KarboSynonyms
Examples of misconstrue in a Sentence
claimed that the press had misconstrued her comments
Recent Examples on the Web
The show doesn’t shy away from depicting homophobia — in season one, Sam’s more conservative sister Tricia takes down a rainbow display in her shop when Sam teases that it could be misconstrued as endorsing Pride.
—Rebecca Alter, Vulture, 24 Oct. 2024
Chief Keef: Almighty So 2 The stopwatch started on rap’s postmodern era with Chief Keef’s Almighty So, released in late 2013—an obscure-sounding record misconstrued in its own time, whose intuitive style would inform just about every major rap trend in the decade to come.
—Pitchfork, 3 Dec. 2024
Perhaps Starboard could do without the occasional asides about removing CEOs at other companies, which ended up getting misquoted and misconstrued into highly disrespectful, unwarranted, and premature calls for Bourla’s removal.
—Owen Tripp, Fortune, 24 Oct. 2024
Bowen Yang has no time for his words to be misconstrued.
—Julia Moore, People.com, 30 Sep. 2024
See all Example Sentences for misconstrue 
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Rebecca Alter, Vulture, 24 Oct. 2024
Chief Keef: Almighty So 2 The stopwatch started on rap’s postmodern era with Chief Keef’s Almighty So, released in late 2013—an obscure-sounding record misconstrued in its own time, whose intuitive style would inform just about every major rap trend in the decade to come.
—Pitchfork, 3 Dec. 2024
Perhaps Starboard could do without the occasional asides about removing CEOs at other companies, which ended up getting misquoted and misconstrued into highly disrespectful, unwarranted, and premature calls for Bourla’s removal.
—Owen Tripp, Fortune, 24 Oct. 2024
Bowen Yang has no time for his words to be misconstrued.
—Julia Moore, People.com, 30 Sep. 2024
See all Example Sentences for misconstrue
Dictionary Entries Near misconstrue
Cite this Entry
“Misconstrue.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/misconstrue. Accessed 21 Dec. 2024.
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