mislead
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
to make someone believe something that is not true, often by giving them incomplete information.
to cause someone to form an incorrect opinion or belief, whether through deliberate deception or unintentional ambiguity.
Simple“The company was accused of trying to mislead customers about the price of the service.”
In context“The witness was careful not to mislead the jury, though his testimony omitted several key details that might have changed their perspective.”
UsageCommonly used in the passive voice: 'to be misled by something'.
PitfallThe advertisement was misleading to me. The advertisement misled me.While 'misleading' is a common adjective, the verb 'mislead' is transitive and usually takes a direct object without a preposition.
- 02 B2 Upper Intermediate
to guide someone to the wrong place or make them go the wrong way.
to lead astray or in a false direction, either physically or metaphorically.
Simple“The old map misled us, and we ended up miles away from the hotel.”
In context“The poorly marked trail misled the hikers into a dangerous ravine, requiring a rescue team to locate them after dark.”
“The first covers the biases and mental shortcuts that can mislead us.”
From Middle English mysleden, from Old English mislǣdan (“to mislead”), from Proto-Germanic *missalaidijaną (“to mislead”). By surface analysis, mis- + lead.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.