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to misrecognize

to misrecognize

8.1
Mistake a person or object for a different one
  • verb
  • /ˌmɪsˈrɛkəɡnaɪz/
  • US
translation icon : malidentificar
  • During the meeting, I misrecognized the speaker, mistaking him for another expert.

Both of them are misrecognizing what is going on in this situation.

Examples

  • She often misrecognizes people she hasn't seen in a long time.

  • Otherwise you are going to strongly misrecognize your partner.

  • Both of them are misrecognizing what is going on in this situation.

  • In Nuremberg, Schmidt saw himself in Bosch but misrecognized it as his enemy.

  • Unfortunately, individual members of minority groups (be they characterized by race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, and so on) are either unrecognized or misrecognized by the larger society.

    Academic text (2009)
  • I misrecognize my friend at the party, thinking she was someone else.

Synonyms

to confuse
vsto misrecognize
142 1.9

Think one person or thing is another by mistake

is the act of wrongly identifying someone during actual encounters
to mistake for
vsto misrecognize
112 3.5

To think one person or thing is another

is used more broadly for incorrect identification overall
to mistake
vsto misrecognize
95 2.6

To think one person or thing is another

is focused on identification error rather than thought or confusion
to misidentify
vsto misrecognize
9 6.5

Say a person or thing is a different one

also focuses on confusing them with another person or thing

Antonyms

1.8

Say who someone is or what something is

1.4

To see or hear someone and know who they are

How Accurate

to recognize
  • US
1.4
to misrecognize
  • US
8.1

Surface Forms

misrecognize infinitive
misrecognized past participle
misrecognizing present participle
misrecognizes third person singular

Morphology

misrecognize = recognize (transparent) = mis + recognize

The meaning is directly compositional: 'mis-' adds the sense of incorrectness to 'recognize'.

Etymology

Misrecognize is made of mis- meaning 'wrong' and recognize, which comes from parts meaning 'again' and 'know'. So to misrecognize someone is to 'know' them the wrong way, that is, to identify them incorrectly.