mislead

verb

mis·​lead ˌmis-ˈlēd 

misled ˌmis-ˈled  ; misleading

transitive verb

: to lead in a wrong direction or into a mistaken action or belief often by deliberate deceit

His comments were a deliberate attempt to mislead the public.

intransitive verb

: to lead astray : give a wrong impression

exciting as they are, they mislead

—E. M. Forster

misleader noun

misleadingly

ˌmis-ˈlē-diŋ-lē 

adverb

Synonyms

• bamboozle
• beguile
• bluff
• buffalo
• burn
• catch
• con
• cozen
• deceive
• delude
• dupe
• fake out
• fool
• gaff
• gammon
• gull
• have
• have on [chiefly British]
• hoax
• hoodwink
• hornswoggle
• humbug
• juggle
• misguide
• misinform
• snooker
• snow
• spoof
• string along
• suck in
• sucker
• take in
• trick

Choose the Right Synonym for mislead

deceive, mislead, delude, beguile mean to lead astray or frustrate usually by underhandedness.

deceive implies imposing a false idea or belief that causes ignorance, bewilderment, or helplessness.

tried to deceive me about the cost

mislead implies a leading astray that may or may not be intentional.

I was misled by the confusing sign

delude implies deceiving so thoroughly as to obscure the truth.

we were deluded into thinking we were safe

beguile stresses the use of charm and persuasion in deceiving.

was beguiled by false promises

Examples of mislead in a Sentence

We believe that her comments were deliberately meant to mislead the public.

We believe that her comments were deliberately meant to mislead.

Recent Examples on the Web

The judge said Bove misled the jury by asking Pecker if a document would refresh Pecker's recollection about the Hicks issue, and then presenting Pecker with a document that, according to the judge, didn't contain something to refresh Pecker's recollection. —Kinsey Crowley, USA TODAY, 25 Apr. 2024

The measure was originally inspired by an investigation into SoCalGas’ use of tens of millions in customer money for its fight against clean energy policy by creating front groups and launching misleading marketing campaigns to support for consequential lawsuits. —Ari Plachta, Sacramento Bee, 23 Apr. 2024

The companies also allegedly misled customers by manipulating caller IDs and posing as employees calling from flower shops or pizzerias to trick borrowers into disclosing their locations or their vehicles’ for repossession purposes. —Gretchen Morgenson, NBC News, 4 Apr. 2024

The migrants signed consent forms before the flight, were given a map of Martha’s Vineyard and were not misled, DeSantis said in September 2022. —Alisha Ebrahimji, CNN, 3 Apr. 2024

The majority’s ruling sided against Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, who argued the ballot language would mislead voters. —Romy Ellenbogen, Miami Herald, 2 Apr. 2024

As a result, readers of the second-generation post are misled, which is what happened here. —Joedy McCreary, USA TODAY, 12 Apr. 2024

Ahead of the meeting, Kolb accused Marshall of intentionally misleading the community in tweets about a community meeting that was slated for Thursday. —Krista Johnson, The Courier-Journal, 11 Apr. 2024

However, Mizuhara allegedly misled Ohtani's U.S.-based financial advisers into believing the MLB player had denied them access to the account. —Natasha Dye, Peoplemag, 11 Apr. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense

Kids Definition

mislead

verb

mis·​lead (ˈ)mis-ˈlēd 

misled -ˈled  ; misleading

: to lead in a wrong direction or into a mistaken action or belief

misleading adjective

Legal Definition

mislead

verb

mis·​lead mis-ˈlēd 

misled -ˈled  ; misleading

transitive verb

: to lead into a mistaken action or belief : to cause to have a false impression

intransitive verb

: to create a false impression compare deceive