Meanings
verbmisunderstand (third-person singular simple present misunderstands, present participle misunderstanding, simple past and past participle misunderstood)
present singular third person misunderstands · participle present misunderstanding · participle past misunderstood · past misunderstood
- transitiveTo understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly.
We found that teen drivers and the public largely misunderstand the legal status of cannabis use and do not fully recognize the risks of cannabis-impaired driving.
2024, NTSB, Intersection Crash Between Passenger Car and Combination Vehicle, Tishomingo, Oklahoma, March 22, 2022Synonyms: take the wrong way
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly.
Similar
More synonyms by meaning
verbinterpret in the wrong way
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Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Middle Englishmys-understanden
- Englishmisunderstand
From Middle English mys-understanden, equivalent to mis- + understand.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans misverstaan
- misverstaanto understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly
Ancient Greek παρανοέω
- παρανοέω (paranoéō)to understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly
Arabic أَسَاءَ الْفَهْم
- أَسَاءَ الْفَهْم (ʔasāʔa l-fahm)to understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly
Bulgarian разбирам погрешно
- разбирам погрешно (razbiram pogrešno)to understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly
Catalan malentendre
- malentendreto understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly
Chinese Mandarin 誤會 /误会, 誤解 /误解
- 誤會 /误会 (wùhuì)to understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly
- 誤解 /误解 (wùjiě)to understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly
Czech neporozumět, špatně pochopit
- neporozumětto understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly
- špatně pochopitto understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly
Danish misforstå
- misforståto understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly
Dutch misverstaan
- misverstaanto understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly
Esperanto miskompreni, malinterpreti
- miskomprenito understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly
- malinterpretito understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly
Estonian valesti aru saama
- valesti aru saamato understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly
Finnish ymmärtää väärin, käsittää väärin
- ymmärtää väärinto understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly
- käsittää väärinto understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly
French mal interpréter, méprendre
- mal interpréterto understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly
- méprendreto understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly
- mécomprendreto understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly
German missverstehen, falsch verstehen
- missverstehento understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly
- falsch verstehento understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly
Greek παρεξηγώ, παρανοώ
- παρεξηγώ (parexigó)to understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly
- παρανοώ (paranoó)to understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly
- παρερμηνεύω (parerminévo)to understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly
Hindi ग़लत समझना
- ग़लत समझना (ġalat samajhnā)to understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly
Hungarian félreért
- félreértto understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly
Icelandic misskilja
- misskiljato understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly
Indonesian salah paham
- salah pahamto understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly
Italian fraintendere, equivocare
- fraintendereto understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly
- equivocareto understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly
- prendere una cantonatato understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly
- prendere un abbaglioto understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly
- prendere un granchioto understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly
- male interpretareto understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly
Japanese 勘違いする, 誤解する
- 勘違いする (kanchigai suru)to understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly
- 誤解する (gokai suru)to understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly
Korean 오해하다
- 오해하다 (ohaehada)to understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly
Latin male teneō, male intellegō
- male teneōto understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly
- male intellegōto understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly
- male capiōto understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly
- male percipiōto understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly
- male sciōto understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly
- male comprehendōto understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly
- fallorto understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly
- fallōto understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly
Malay salah faham
- salah fahamto understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly
Māori tuakoi
- tuakoito understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly
Norwegian misforstå
- misforståto understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly
Polish źle rozumieć, źle zrozumieć
- źle rozumiećto understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly
- źle zrozumiećto understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly
Portuguese entender mal
- entender malto understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly
Russian неправильно понимать
- неправильно понимать (nepravilʹno ponimatʹ)to understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly
Scottish Gaelic mì-bhreithnich
- mì-bhreithnichto understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly
Spanish malentender, tomarlo mal (a)
- malentenderto understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly
- tomarlo mal (a)to understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly
Swedish missförstå
- missförståto understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly
Thai เข้าใจผิด, เขว
- เข้าใจผิด (kâo-jai-pìt)to understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly
- เขว (kwăy)to understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly
Turkish yanlış anlamak
- yanlış anlamakto understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly
Urdu غلط سمجھنا
- غلط سمجھنا (ġalat samajhnā)to understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with misunderstand
andhandlandbrandbandunderstandgrandstanddemandexpandplannedsandgranderandstrandbannedscannedcannedglandtannedwithstandblandsecondhandmanned
All rhymes →Cite this entry
APA
misunderstand. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/misunderstand
MLA
“misunderstand.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/misunderstand. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “misunderstand,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/misunderstand.
Source: misunderstand on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.