contextomy

plural contextomies

1. countablefigurativelyuncountableThe act or practice of quoting somebody out of context, often to give a false impression of what they said.

   …saying that the Literary Gazette had committed the Chicago Tribune's habitual crime of contextomy against me.

   1964, Milton Mayer, What can a man do?: A selection of his most challenging writings, page 33

   2 more examples

   The competent quoteman, no matter how eager he is to outwit his opponent, will have neither the need nor the inclination to stoop to contextomy of the flagrantly mendacious sort.

   1967, Paul F. Boller, Quotemanship: the use and abuse of quotations for polemical and other purposes, page 286

   The prosecution would have to prove that audiences were misled by the practice, known as contextomy. Those who break the laws could face fines […]

   2008 May 29, Amol Rajan, “Excellent! Theatres forced to withdraw misleading reviews”, in The Independent

   Synonyms: quote mining