misdirect

verb

mis·​di·​rect ˌmis-də-ˈrekt 

-(ˌ)dī-

misdirected; misdirecting; misdirects

transitive verb

1

: to give a wrong direction to

2

: to direct wrongly

misdirected their energies

Examples of misdirect in a Sentence

Their mail was misdirected to our address.

If he tells you he's not interested, he's trying to misdirect you.

Recent Examples on the Web

The criticism was sharp, loud, and misdirected. —Naz Beheshti, Forbes.com, 8 Sep. 2025

Allen has laid out a multimillion-dollar proposal to wean New College off taxpayer dollars over the next decade, arguing that the surge of state funding that fueled the school’s conservative makeover has been misdirected and cannot be relied on to last. —Alice Herman, Miami Herald, 6 Sep. 2025

Instead of a straightforward diagnosis, Avery was met with skepticism and often misdirected labels. —Ashley Vega, People.com, 21 July 2025

To prevent this instinct from becoming overactive or misdirected, Kohanski said that owners should teach dogs a release cue to signal that the situation is safe. —Lucy Notarantonio, MSNBC Newsweek, 23 June 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1603, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for misdirect

• architect
• circumspect
• deselect
• dialect
• disconnect
• disinfect
• disrespect
• incorrect
• indirect
• intellect
• interject
• intersect

Kids Definition

misdirect

verb

mis·​di·​rect ˌmis-də-ˈrekt 

-(ˌ)dī-

: to direct incorrectly

misdirection

-ˈrek-shən

noun