misconstrue

English

Etymology

From Middle English misconstruen, equivalent to mis- +‎ construe.

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /mɪskənˈstɹuː/
Audio (Mid-Atlantic) (file)

Verb

misconstrue (third-person singular simple present misconstrues, present participle misconstruing, simple past and past participle misconstrued)

(transitive) To interpret erroneously, to understand incorrectly; to misunderstand.
- 1975: Paul Simon, 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover from the album Still Crazy after All These Years.
  […] furthermore, I hope my meaning won’t be lost or misconstrued […]

Synonyms

misconstruct
misinterpret
misunderstand

Derived terms

misconstrual
misconstruance
misconstruation

Translations

to interpret erroneously

Bulgarian: разбирам погрешно (razbiram pogrešno)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 誤會／误会 (zh) (wùhuì), 誤解／误解 (zh) (wùjiě)
Dutch: misverstaan (nl), verkeerd interpreteren
Finnish: tulkita väärin, ymmärtää väärin
German: fehldeuten (de), falsch deuten, falsch interpretieren
Greek: παρερμηνεύω (el) (parerminévo)
Hungarian: félreértelmez (hu)
Norwegian: feiltolke
Russian: неправильно понять pf (nepravilʹno ponjatʹ), ошибочно истолковать pf (ošibočno istolkovatʹ)
Spanish: malinterpretar (es)
Swedish: misstolka (sv), feltolka

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