Meanings
present singular third person misrepresents · participle present misrepresenting · participle past misrepresented · past misrepresented
- To represent falsely; to inaccurately portray something.
The fraudster misrepresented himself as a lawyer.
1 more example
Here perhaps one of you might interrupt me and say, 'But what is it that you do, Socrates? How is it that you have been misrepresented like this? Surely all this talk and gossip about you would never have arisen if you had confined yourself to ordinary activities, but only if your behaviour was abnormal. Give us the explanation, if you do not want us to draw our own conclusions.'
1993, Plato, translated by Hugh Tredennick and Harold Tarrant, “Justice and Duty (i): Socrates Speaks at his Trial: the Apology”, in The Last Days of Socrates (Penguin Classics), revised edition, London; New York, N.Y.: Penguin Books, →ISBN, page 41
Synonyms & antonyms
verbtamper, with the purpose of deception
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*mey-?
- Proto-Indo-European*meyth₂-
- Proto-Germanic*missaz
- Proto-Germanic*missa-
- Proto-West Germanic*missa-
- Old Englishmis-
- Middle Englishmys-
- Englishmis-
- Proto-Italic*wre-
- Latinre-
- Old Frenchre-
- Middle Englishre-
- Englishre-
- Proto-Indo-European*per-
- Proto-Indo-European*preh₂-
- Proto-Indo-European*préh₂i?
- Proto-Italic*prai
- Proto-Italic*prai-
- Latinprae-
- Proto-Indo-European*h₁es-
- Proto-Indo-European*h₁ésti
- Proto-Indo-European*bʰuH-
- Proto-Indo-European*bʰúHt
- Proto-Italic*ezom~*som
- Old Latinesum
- Latinsum
- Latinpraesum
- Latinpraesens
- Latinpraesentāre
- Old Frenchpresenter
- Middle Englishpresenten
- Englishpresent
- Englishrepresent
- Englishmisrepresent
From mis- + represent.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian представям за, представя за
- представям за (predstavjam za)to inaccurately portray something — see also pass off as
- представя за (predstavja za)to inaccurately portray something — see also pass off as
Chinese Cantonese 歪曲
- 歪曲 (waai¹ kuk¹)to inaccurately portray something — see also pass off as
Chinese Mandarin 歪曲
- 歪曲 (wāiqū)to inaccurately portray something — see also pass off as
Czech nesprávně vylíčit, zkreslit
- nesprávně vylíčitto inaccurately portray something — see also pass off as
- zkreslitto inaccurately portray something — see also pass off as
- překroutitto inaccurately portray something — see also pass off as
Finnish esittää väärin, esittää virheellisesti
- esittää väärinto inaccurately portray something — see also pass off as
- esittää virheellisestito inaccurately portray something — see also pass off as
- vääristelläto inaccurately portray something — see also pass off as
French détorquer
- détorquerto inaccurately portray something — see also pass off as
German umlügen
- umlügento inaccurately portray something — see also pass off as
Latin dētorqueō
- dētorqueōto inaccurately portray something — see also pass off as
Māori aweke, whakapeau
- aweketo inaccurately portray something — see also pass off as
- whakapeauto inaccurately portray something — see also pass off as
- whakatapehato inaccurately portray something — see also pass off as
Polish przeinaczać, przeinaczyć
- przeinaczaćto inaccurately portray something — see also pass off as
- przeinaczyćto inaccurately portray something — see also pass off as
Portuguese deturpar
- deturparto inaccurately portray something — see also pass off as
Russian искази́ть, передёргивать
- искази́ть (iskazítʹ)to inaccurately portray something — see also pass off as
- передёргивать (peredjórgivatʹ)to inaccurately portray something — see also pass off as
- передёрнуть (peredjórnutʹ)to inaccurately portray something — see also pass off as
Spanish incurrir en falsedad, tergiversar (las palabras de)
- incurrir en falsedadto inaccurately portray something — see also pass off as
- tergiversar (las palabras de)to inaccurately portray something — see also pass off as
- deformarto inaccurately portray something — see also pass off as
- desformarto inaccurately portray something — see also pass off as
- disformarto inaccurately portray something — see also pass off as
Swedish förvanska
- förvanskato inaccurately portray something — see also pass off as
Thai บิดเบือน
- บิดเบือน (bìt-bʉʉan)to inaccurately portray something — see also pass off as
Ukrainian переіна́кшити, переіна́кшувати
- переіна́кшити (pereinákšyty)to inaccurately portray something — see also pass off as
- переіна́кшувати (pereinákšuvaty)to inaccurately portray something — see also pass off as
Vietnamese bóp méo, xuyên tạc
- bóp méoto inaccurately portray something — see also pass off as
- xuyên tạcto inaccurately portray something — see also pass off as
Cite this entry
misrepresent. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/misrepresent
“misrepresent.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/misrepresent. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “misrepresent,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/misrepresent.
Source: misrepresent on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.