as in to misunderstand
to fail to understand the true or actual meaning of
humor-challenged members of the audience misperceived the speaker's harmless joke as an insult to their organization
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Recent Examples of misperceive
According to the researchers, these misperceptions may stop people from speaking up about their concerns and cause policymakers to misperceive how much their constituents care.
—
Laura Schulte, Journal Sentinel, 28 Apr. 2023
Russian pilots could misperceive the escorts as offensive NATO warplanes and engage them, precipitating a disaster with unknown consequences.
—Rebeccah Heinrichs, National Review, 24 Feb. 2022
In this state, the concept extends to dog bites – even if the owner did not intend that Rover would bite anyone and did not anticipate that the dog might misperceive the victim’s intent or might remember the victim was hostile to him in the past.
—Donna Engle, baltimoresun.com/maryland/carroll, 8 May 2021
Americans often misperceive historical inequities as personal failures.
—Ed Yong, The Atlantic, 3 Aug. 2020
Laura Schulte, Journal Sentinel, 28 Apr. 2023
Russian pilots could misperceive the escorts as offensive NATO warplanes and engage them, precipitating a disaster with unknown consequences.
—Rebeccah Heinrichs, National Review, 24 Feb. 2022
In this state, the concept extends to dog bites – even if the owner did not intend that Rover would bite anyone and did not anticipate that the dog might misperceive the victim’s intent or might remember the victim was hostile to him in the past.
—Donna Engle, baltimoresun.com/maryland/carroll, 8 May 2021
Americans often misperceive historical inequities as personal failures.
—Ed Yong, The Atlantic, 3 Aug. 2020
Recent Examples of Synonyms for misperceive
misunderstand
Verb
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The driver misunderstood the instruction and entered the fast lane before the re-start time was officially confirmed in breach of the Race Director's event notes.—
Lydia Mee,
MSNBC Newsweek,
17 May 2025
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That's extremely common among these cases, said University of Idaho law professor Benji Cover, who wrote a paper about people, including noncitizens, misunderstanding election rules and being prosecuted in recent decades.—
Miles Parks,
NPR,
17 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Misperceive.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/misperceive. Accessed 2 Jun. 2025.
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