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

Once activated, this kit sends out fake locations, causing the car's GPS to display a false map and misdirect the driver entirely. —Alex Vakulov, Forbes, 31 Oct. 2024

But some believe the club’s money and expertise is being misdirected. —Lila Seidman, Los Angeles Times, 27 Oct. 2024

All of that is just really misdirected and contrary to the positions of major medical associations and public health associations. —Chantelle Lee, TIME, 24 Sep. 2024

The goal of that litigation is simple: use speculative and specious legal theories to convince a jury that chain pharmacies and distribution companies should foot the bill for fixing years of ineffective and misdirected city programs and absent public health leadership. —Lauren Sheets Jarrell, Baltimore Sun, 6 Aug. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1603, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

misdirect

verb

mis·​di·​rect ˌmis-də-ˈrekt 

-(ˌ)dī-

: to direct incorrectly

misdirection

-ˈrek-shən

noun