mislead
/mɪsˈliːd/ verb, noun
Forms misleads misleading misled
- verb (literally) To lead astray, in a false direction.
- verb To deceive by telling lies or otherwise giving a false impression.
- verb To deceptively trick into something wrong. “The preacher elaborated Satan's ways to mislead us into sin”
- verb (loosely) To accidentally or intentionally confuse.
- noun A wrong or bad lead; a leading in the wrong direction.
- noun (countable) That which is deceptive or untruthful (e.g. a falsehood, deception, untruth, or ruse).
Synonyms
forlead misguide misinform deceive delude beguile cheat bluff seduce misdirect lead astray
Antonyms
Etymology
From Middle English mysleden, from Old English mislǣdan (“to mislead”), from Proto-Germanic *missalaidijaną (“to mislead”). By surface analysis, mis- + lead.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To lead into a wrong way or path; to lead astray; to guide into error; to cause to mistake; to deceive.
Etymology [AS. misl. See Mis-, and Lead to conduct.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “mislead”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details