misinform
Other forms: misinformed; misinforming; misinforms
When you misinform someone, you give them the wrong information. If you misinform your friend about what homework is due tomorrow, he may do the wrong math problems.
It's possible to misinform people on purpose (deliberately giving them false information), or accidentally. To inform someone is to provide them with information — to educate or advise them about something. Inform comes from a Latin root, informare, "train or instruct," and literally "shape or form." Adding the "wrong" or "not" prefix mis- gives you misinform, "to instruct in the wrong way."
Definitions of misinform
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give false or misleading information to
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synonyms:
mislead
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types:
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lie
tell an untruth; pretend with intent to deceive
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beat around the bush, equivocate, palter, prevaricate, tergiversate
be deliberately ambiguous or unclear in order to mislead or withhold information
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amplify, exaggerate, hyperbolise, hyperbolize, magnify, overdraw, overstate
to enlarge beyond bounds or the truth
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sandbag
downplay one's ability (towards others) in a game in order to deceive, as in gambling
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betray, deceive, lead astray
cause someone to believe an untruth
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romance
tell romantic or exaggerated lies
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perjure
knowingly tell an untruth in a legal court and render oneself guilty of perjury
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fib
tell a relatively insignificant lie
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impersonate, personate, pose
pretend to be someone you are not; sometimes with fraudulent intentions
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bamboozle, hoodwink, lead by the nose, play false, pull the wool over someone's eyes, snow
conceal one's true motives from especially by elaborately feigning good intentions so as to gain an end
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overemphasise, overemphasize, overstress
place special or excessive emphasis on
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befool, cod, dupe, fool, gull, put on, put one across, put one over, slang, take in
fool or hoax
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blow, bluster, boast, brag, gas, gasconade, shoot a line, swash, tout, vaunt
show off
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aggrandise, aggrandize, blow up, dramatise, dramatize, embellish, embroider, lard, pad
add details to
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type of:
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inform
impart knowledge of some fact, state or affairs, or event to
DISCLAIMER: These example sentences appear in various news sources and books to reflect the usage of the word ‘misinform'.
Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Vocabulary.com or its editors.
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