Meanings
verbmismean (third-person singular simple present mismeans, present participle mismeaning, simple past and past participle mismeant)
present singular third person mismeans · participle present mismeaning · participle past mismeant · past mismeant
- transitiveTo mean or intend wrongly; mistake the meaning of; misinterpret.
To mismean is not to mean; to mismean is to honor a meaning glimpsed but unmeant.
1978, Clayton Eshleman, What she means1 more example
If we ever misstate the facts it is, alas, because sometimes we mismean the proposition that we utter.
1914, Granville Stanley Hall, Carl Allanmore Murchison, The Journal of genetic psychology
Origin
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
APA
mismean. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mismean
MLA
“mismean.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mismean. Accessed November 4, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “mismean,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mismean.
Source: mismean on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.