misconceive

Meanings

verbmisconceive (third-person singular simple present misconceives, present participle misconceiving, simple past and past participle misconceived)

present singular third person misconceives · participle present misconceiving · participle past misconceived · past misconceived

To misunderstand.
1694, William Congreve, The Double-Dealer Nay, misconceive me not, madam, when I say I have had a gen'rous and a faithful passion, which you had never favoured, but through revenge and policy.
To judge or plan badly, typically on the basis of faulty misunderstanding.
HS2 has never had that. It was missold, misnamed and misconceived. It was promoted as a piece of engineering, rather than as a vital part of the railway.
2024 February 7, Christian Wolmar, “LNER's crazy idea will price more people off the railway”, in RAIL, number 1002, page 45

verbinterpret in the wrong way

Broader

Also see

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

From Middle English misconceiven, equivalent to mis- + conceive.

More words from Middle English

Cite this entry

APA

misconceive. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/misconceive

MLA

“misconceive.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/misconceive. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “misconceive,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/misconceive.