to misconstrue
- verb
- /ˌmɪskənˈstruː/
- Now, please don't misconstrue my intentions.
- misconstrued and misrepresented
- often misconstrued
But I don't want to get anything misconstrued like it's not worth it.
- But I don't want to get anything misconstrued like it's not worth it.
- And so they kind of misconstrue why they're successful.
- So that's not really, that's sort of misconstruing what's actually happening here.
- So things can get misconstrued online.
- Now, please don't misconstrue my intentions.
- I'm trying to figure out how this could be misconstrued.
- And I think people are set up to misconstrue so that it does get more attention, you know?
- Don't want any of the comments above to be misconstrued as stodgy, and that is from B.
- But they're often misconstrued to be somehow a negative statement against women.
- But it should not be misconstrued as arguing that this broad activation.
- Everyone ain't going like expect people to dislike you, expect people to talk bad about you, expect people to try to misconstrue perceptions about you.
- I know it's a vague question, but, you know, there have been instances when one particular event or policy has been misconstrued.
- I wouldn't do that, you know, and to certain respects, believe it or not, Kyrie, you know, because I think that that got misconstrued.
- And not because don't misconstrue this with giving the right guy an opportunity to fix things, because in relationships, we're going to have mistakes.
Examples
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You have to be so careful not to do anything people might misconstrue.
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Fear was pervasive, for any action could be misconstrued, and the watchers were everywhere.
Academic text (2000) -
And sometimes I feel like people misconstrue the things that I'm saying or things that I say in my bars.
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And I think audiences sometimes misconstrue the characters that I play versus who I am.
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And so they kind of misconstrue why they're successful.
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I think you misconstrued the matter.
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As a result, several reviewers misconstrued the intent of the book.
Academic text (2002) -
I misconstrued the situation.
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Sometimes merely updating a document can be misconstrued as an attempt to conceal.
Academic text (2007) -
He misconstrued her friendly gesture as a romantic advance.
Synonyms
To understand words or actions in the wrong way
To think something is true when it is not
To understand something in the wrong way
To form a wrong idea about someone or something
To understand something in the wrong way
To understand something in the wrong way
To understand something wrongly
To understand something in the wrong way
Antonyms
How Accurate
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Misconstrue combines mis- 'wrongly' and construe, which is like construct meaning 'to build' or 'put together'. So to misconstrue something is to 'build' the wrong meaning from someone's words or actions.